Etnolog w labiryncie znaczeń kulturowych. Psychologiczne wyzwania badań terenowych

Abstract

Every meeting with the other man is an unrepeatable experience and this refers also people met during fieldwork. Different emotions which not easily are undergoing the control are accompanying it. It is worthwhile being aware, that psychological sphere of the researcher and examined they are producing the double-sided influence on contacts and their effects. That’s all causes that human relationshipswhich are being built during fieldwork always carry the element of both the personality of the researcher and cultural conditions shaping her, and persons come across.This text is an attempt to pay attention to selected aspects of relation researcher-examined,which have their source in psychological conditionings of functioning of the man. I talk over thereforfollowing issues: emotions of the explorer and examined and ways of coping with them; the roleof the expression and the spontaneity of the researcher; the etiquette understood as cultural behaviour patterns and the authenticity of the researcher, the aesthetics, that is to say the influenceof the gender category on the fieldwork; the ethics, that is the dependence between the cultural relativism and moral principles of the researcher and the enthusiasm as well as its lack leading to professional burnout. Each of the issue I exemplify with situations from my own research experience and I try to show both their reasons and consequences. However the crucial aim of this article was encouraging to the discussion and the exchanging of experiences on the subject of the role and influence of the psychological sphere of the researcher and examined on their bilateral communication.