ABSTRACT
Is there a case for a Marxist approach in anthropological fieldwork? The present collection of papers explores the relevance of the theories of French Marxist anthropologists for empirical anthropological analysis. Our work-group's interest in these theories sprang mainly from the fact that here, we hoped, new perspectives were to be found for the analysis of our own field-work data. The preceding chapters may have indicated in what ways these Marxist theories can be used for interpreting specific sets of anthropological data. However, our project equally raises questions as to the relevance of these theories for the actual practice of anthropological field-work — for data collection itself. As has been emphasized in chapter 1 by Geschiere and Raatgever, our own field-work, in its design and execution, was still little influenced by Marxist theories. Moreover, in general it is as yet far from clear to what extent these theories have specific implications for the practice of anthropological field-work. Therefore in the present chapter we shall embark on a discussion of these practical implications, leaving the more theoretical evaluation of the French school to Reini Raatgever (ch. 8 below).
