25 - 27 January 2007
Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative
Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie (M.A.E.)
Université of Paris X
21 allée de l’Université, Nanterre
RER Nanterre-Université
Fieldwork and archives: two terms that, at first sight, refer to opposed views, to different practices or even different disciplines: ethnology and history. The former suggests a wide view on the world, the exploration of remote areas, the discovery of unknown societies, the latter suggests a return to the past, and thus a confinement to archives, often synonymous with stuffy old papers. Yet the reality is quite different. Thus many ethnologists, particularly those who work on Western societies, have defined their themes while working on archives, while others, who are working in remote areas, collected extensive material about the traditions of the societies that they studied.
Today, the archives collected by ethnologists during their fieldwork enjoy a great deal of interest. Yet the desire for safekeeping has not been accompanied so far by a conscious discussion about the conditions under which these data could be retrieved for new studies.
This is why we have focused on this question at the heart of the project « Fieldwork and its archives », a project that we have carried out over the last three years through a variety of experiments, particularly through several attempts to re-visit areas that had been the subject of field-work in the past (re-visit of Grazalema, a village studied by Julian Pitt-Rivers in the ‘fifties, re-visit of the Baronnies, which had been the object of a multidisciplinary enquiry in the ‘eighties, re-visit of the society of Madagascar in the light of Lutheran missionaries’ archives of the end of the XIXth century).
The workshop of 25 - 27 January 2007 will allow us to submit the first results that we have obtained to ethnologists and other professional users of archives.
For more information on the Action Concertée Incitative, A.C.I. « Fieldwork and its archives » see the site http://lodel.imageson.org/terrainarchive/.
9:30 am Opening remarks: Anne-Marie Peatrik, director of the Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative (M.A.E.).
10:am Session chaired by Antoinette Molinié & Marie-Dominique Mouton (Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, M.A.E.).
Presentation of the A.C.I. project « Fieldwork and archives» by Marie-Dominique Mouton.
Session chair : Tiphaine Barthélémy de Saizieu (University of Paris VIII).
- Maria Couroucli (Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, M.A.E.): Presentation of the project.
- Evi Kapoli (Centre for Asia Minor Studies): The archives of oral history of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies. Scope and conditions for research.
- Evangelia Balta (National Foundation for Scientific Research, Athens): Constitution and use of the ethnographic material of Greek refugees from Anatolia: questions about history and historiography.
Session Chair: Dominique Fournier (Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris).
- Antoinette Molinié (Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, M.A.E.) : Presentation of the project.
- Angel Martín (University of Sevilla): Return to Grazalema. Revisiting Julian Pitt-Rivers’ fieldwork.
- Pedro Romero de Solís & Francisco Campuzano (University of Sevilla): The intellectual and scientific context of Pitt-Rivers’ archives.
- Antoinette Molinié (Laboratoire d’ethnologie, M.A.E.): To maintain ethnographical archives: why bother?
- Robert Leopold (Anthropological Archives Smithsonian): The Second Life of Ethnographic Fieldnotes.
With the participation of Tiphaine Barthélémy de Saizieu (University of Paris VIII).
Session Chair: Michel Naepels (C.N.R.S.-E.H.E.S.S.)
- Sophie Blanchy (Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, M.A.E.): Religious practices and representations in Madagascar at the time of Lars Vig (missionary and ethnographer) 1875-1903. Text and context.
- Nils Hoimyr (Lutheran Archives, Stavanger, Norway): The archives of Vig-Valen and its readers.
- Lolona Razafindralambo (University of Antananarivo): Social status in the Highlands in the light of Vig-Valen’s archives.
- Chantal Radimilahy (University of Antananarivo): Healing rituals: comparison between fieldwork and archives.
With the participation of Dominique Buchillet (I.R.D), who will speak about his experience with archives of missionaries in Brazil.
Session Chair: Georges Ravis Giordani (University of Aix-Marseille).
- Georges Augustins (University of Paris X): Presentation of the project.
- Claude Mercier (Researcher): Archives of yesterday and of today.
- Antoinette Chamoux (E.H.E.S.S): Family stories in the Pyrenees and History of The Family.
- Rolande Bonnain (E.H.E.S.S): How an ethnologist can become familiar with the study of archives (1993-2003.)
- Anne Sourdril (Researcher): The landscape of a ‘société à maisons’ in North Comminges seen through the cadastral archives: the encounter of ethnology and ecology.
Session Chair: Marie-Dominique Mouton.
- Isabelle Grangaud (M.M.S.H. Aix-en-Provence): About the archives of Algeria under the Ottoman Empire.
- Eric Jolly (C.N.R.S.): The archives of Marcel Griaule, an object of research to be shared.
- Denis Douyon (Université of Bamako): The archives of Marcel Griaule as perceived by an ethnologist from Mali.
- Aly Ongoïba (National Archives of Mali): How should we preserve the archives of Griaule in Mali?
Those who wish to participate in the entire workshop or in one of its sessions are invited to register with Marie-Dominique Mouton (phone 0146692619, e-mail: marie-dominique.mouton@mae.u-paris10.fr).
