Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco is an account of anthropologist Paul Rabinow’s first field research trip, during graduate school. Published in 1977 based on notes gathered in the Middle Atlas mountains in the late 1960s, the book is part narrative story, part travel diary, part ethnography, and part philosophical analysis of anthropology as a discipline. Rabinow went on to a long career as an anthropology and philosophy professor and writer; this book was the first example of the type of analytical academic work that he was famous for. Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco came at a time when fieldwork as a practice had not been viewed from a modern critical framework despite being the most important facet of anthropological research since the discipline’s inception. The book called into question many longstanding rules about the fieldwork process, and Rabinow’s ideas were controversial at the time of publication. Although his philosophy has since become widely accepted in anthropology circles, the questions that this book raises are still a major source of debate.

Summary

Rabinow frames Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco as a chronological story, beginning with his departure from Chicago in June 1968 and running through the end of his two-year stay in Morocco. He first moves to the small city of Sefrou, where he meets his first contacts, mostly people recommended by his PhD advisor. In the city he begins to orient himself to Moroccan culture and language and to form friendships that will help him achieve his “real” fieldwork.

Rabinow’s academic goal for his fieldwork is not fully defined at first, but he generally wants to study how ancient local religious practices influence society in the remote villages of the Middle Atlas. He ultimately chooses the town of Sidi Lahcen Lyussi. It is the site of a longstanding religious shrine and an active olive industry, so Rabinow believes it will provide some interesting anthropological facts. It is also the hometown of his first main informant, Ali, so he has a lead to help gain permission to study there. About halfway through the book, Rabinow is allowed into the village. A faction of Sidi Lahcen Lyussi’s residents originally resists his arrival, though, and he enters the village with a sense of unease. Eventually he is accepted, or at least his novelty wears off, and he secures helpful local informants and is able to find information that will result in his PhD ethnography, titled Symbolic Domination: Cultural Form and Historical Change in Morocco.

With the help of a host of locals in both Sefrou and Sidi Lahcen Lyussi, Rabinow learn about the societal dynamics of Morocco while realizing just how different they are from Chicago academic culture on even the most basic levels. Even as his Arabic improves, he feels uncomfortably confused in many situations. Although he left for Morocco with an intellectual awareness of his Otherness as a Western academic in a neocolonial Muslim country, he begins to realize just how much this outsider status affects his work. Moroccan locals interpret even everyday occurrences very differently that he does, making him question how his observations can be viewed as anthropological “facts.” In addition, his informants each have varying motivations for helping him, and even the best information is inherently subjective and must go through a complex cultural translation to be relayed accurately. He therefore argues it is impossible for information gathered through fieldwork to be true objective data and thus impossible for anthropology to become a data-driven science, a lacking that he sees as the potential downfall of the field.

Rabinow outlines his philosophical stance through a series of stories, mostly accounts of interactions with informants. Each story highlights one or more major themes of the book, such as the inherent inequality of the anthropologist/informant relationship, the inevitability of Otherness, and the impact of French colonialism and its aftermath on the areas he visits and the work he is able to do. Minor themes include the place of women in Moroccan society; Rabinow is hesitant to approach female informants for fear of violating gender taboos but explores the role of sex work in Sefrou and attempts to learn about the lives of his friends’ female relatives.

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco was republished in 2007, leading to renewed interest in the book and a review of Rabinow’s legacy as an anthropologist. This guide is based on the 1977 edition of the book.