ABSTRACT
Before writing about the anthropological perspective on privacy I will need to briefly explain what constitutes an anthropological perspective and how it comes into being. The first ‘article’ of my anthropological Credo is context. Anthropologists study people, practices, words, thoughts, objects, traditions, institutions, and so on in their context, while many other disciplines do the opposite. No spoken or written word has a fixed meaning but derives its meaning from the sentence or the wider context in which it occurs. This insight forms the basis of the anthropological research approach. We cannot be sure of the meaning of people’s words or actions if they are delivered to us out of context. If we have not seen the expression on the speaker’s face and the situation in which s/he was when speaking, we cannot be sure of the intended meaning of the spoken words. Was the person at ease when s/he spoke or did s/he rather feel uncomfortable or annoyed? Was s/he perhaps ironic, was s/he lying or did s/he try to flatter or just to get rid of the visitor who asked him or her impertinent private questions? Was s/he impatient or did s/he rather enjoy the conversation with this visitor? Of course, we can never be absolutely certain what someone has in mind during a conversation, but being with him or her in the same context is the best we can do to capture someone’s intentions.
