By Marco Roncarati, SOAS

The mainstay of my fieldwork, covering a one-year period until September 2000, revolved around the study of traditional healers and health care developments within the context of Thai Buddhism. This paper attempts to look at certain ‘challenges’ many anthropologists face when in the field and when ‘writing up’, particularly with regard to the identity of those studied, the validity of their experiences, and related ethical matters. With reference to a case study it is argued that, in order to enhance understanding, knowledge in its various forms needs to be contextualised, while consciousness is more usefully understood as capable of being developed to ‘higher’ levels beyond the ‘mental-rational’ level to more adequately reflect the reality of ‘supernatural’ phenomenon described by the anthropologist’s informants….

Read more here: http://www.anthropologymatters.com/index.php/anth_matters/article/view/141/268