ABSTRACT
The notion of risk and danger as elements in ethnographic research have been discussed
occasionally, but usually definitions have been fairly confined. Lee (1995) touches on
many points that include physical and psychological danger and others have discussed
their own dangerous fieldwork (Wolf 1991; Armstrong 1993). Others have focused
upon the way risk is perceived by individuals (Douglas 1992) or within social systems
(Friedman 1987). This chapter develops the literature to look at other issues around
risk and ethnographic research that have not been sufficiently addressed. I have been
particularly fascinated by the way in which teaching ethnographic field methods has
caused me to consider danger more consciously than when blithely entering into such
situations as a researcher. This chapter is, in part, concerned with the way directing and
managing students in the field has affected and indeed enriched my understanding of
risk and threat.
