From: danny@cs.su.oz.au (Danny Yee) Date: Wed, 19 Jul 1995 23:13:55 +1000 Subject: Book Review - Tales of the Field title: Tales of the Field : On Writing Ethnography by: John Van Maanen publisher: The University of Chicago Press 1988 subjects: anthropology, sociology, writing other: 173 pages, references, index _Tales of the Field_ is an exploration of some of the rhetorical and narrative devices used in ethnographic writing, both sociological and anthropological. Van Maanen divides the genre into three major categories -- realist, confessional and impressionist tales -- and treats each separately, illustrating his analysis with examples drawn from his own fieldwork (on a United States police force). He restricts (or tries to restrict) his attention to literary matters and, although the refusal to take a stance on the theoretical and epistemological issues involved seems strained in places, this seems to work reasonably well. I didn't feel there was anything particularly original in _Tales of the Field_, but it is a very nice exposition of modern critical insights into ethnography. Van Maanen writes that _Tales of the Field_ is aimed at what he calls "collegial readers" rather than at "social science" or "general" readers. I'd like to think, however, that most academics writing ethnography would already be aware of most of the material he covers, and I think his work is most valuable as an introduction to the complexities of ethnographic writing for the student, general reader, or explorer from non-ethnographic disciplines. In particular, it is refreshingly free from from technical jargon and, while it does reference other work in the field, it doesn't assume any background knowledge. It is also short enough for the limited attention spans of lower level undergraduates. -- Disclaimer: I requested and received a review copy of _Tales of the Field_ from The University of Chicago Press, but I have no stake, financial or otherwise, in its success. -- %T Tales of the Field %S On Writing Ethnography %A John Van Maanen %I The University of Chicago Press %C Chicago %D 1988 %O paperback, references, index %G ISBN 0-226-84962-7 %P xvi,173pp %K anthropology, sociology, writing Danny Yee (danny@cs.su.oz.au) 19 July 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1995 Danny Yee. Comments and criticism welcome ------------------------------------------------------------- URL http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/danny/book-reviews/index.html -------------------------------------------------------------