Theorisation and the Importance of Fieldwork in Anthropology. A Study of the Construction of the Notions of ‘‘Identity’’ and ‘‘Globalization’’
It is now well known that many factors greatly influence efforts in anthropological theorisation. It has become apparent to us that fieldwork is a master piece in this puzzle. This is what we demonstrate in this article in analysing the thesis developed by five internationally well-known authors : Arjun Appadurai, Jonathan Friedman, Ulf Hannerz, Michael Herzfeld and Éric Schwimmer. We argue that these anthropologists have different, and sometimes opposed, conceptions of the notions of ‘‘identity’’ and ‘‘globalization’’, two relatively recent concepts in anthropology. Essentially, those conceptions are closely related to their object of study and to the way they analyse it. This is our conclusion after having systematically compared the ideas put forward by those authors since 1989, the year 1989 being known as a turning-point on the global scene. In order to understand well what they are saying about identity, globalization and other themes, we should first decode the way they are constructing the reality.