ABSTRACT
Fieldwork is a structured temporal and geographical space marked by empirical research on a selected set of subjects. However, fieldwork, like much tourism, also bears some of the hallmarks of a ludic experience in that it requires temporary changes in location as well as psychology and can even be regarded as a form of play – at least in comparison with laboratory or office work and as an escape from those environments (see Hall, Chapter 1, this volume). Play is ‘a well defined quality of action which is different from “ordinary life” ’ (Huizinga 1980: 4) or ‘real life’ (1980: 8), but it is not, contrary to popular thinking, simply the opposite of seriousness. Instead, all play ‘absorbs us in a ludic moment. A freedom delimited in time and space. We become serious within a non-serious situation, or vice versa. A certain amount of tension is inevitable, but serves to feed the fire of creativity, when anything may be possible. It may be tense, because after all “who knows what’s going to happen?” but above all, it is fun’ (Sawkins 2002). The notion of fieldwork as play is also picked up by Arizona State University geographer Casey Allen:
I often refer to fieldwork as ‘play’, because playing usually connotes fun. And fieldwork is certainly FUN! You may already be familiar with fieldwork. Maybe you’ve already conducted fieldwork (even though you may not have known it)! (Most) geographers see ‘the field’ anywhere and everywhere: the forest, a foreign country, the CBD of a city, the corn fields of Iowa, a classroom, the city plaza, rooftops, a river, the road, movies, even life itself! Being in the field – playing in the field – with a full-fledged Geographer is a fabulous treat. Tag along with a Geographer doing fieldwork and see for yourself!
