ABSTRACT
Beattie poses searching questions about what it means to ‘be there’ in a contemporary,
increasingly globalised world still saturated with lasting power hierarchies.2
The postmodern and postcolonial critiques of anthropology informing Beat-
tie’s approach to fieldwork may be deployed in alternative ways. When utilised critically
and historiographically, politicised reflections on ethnographic methods may become
theoretical frameworks through which to rethink the fieldwork activities of others.
