“Madness” in the fields: Analytical  mediations

Monique Selim

Director of Research Unité mixte de Recherche, Développement et Sociétés Institut de Recherche pour le Développement Université de Paris.

E-mail: monique.selim@ird.fr.

Accepted 8 February, 2010

   Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of the relationships that the ethnologist forms during fieldwork. The author attempts to define the double logic that innervates all ethnological research, torn between the cross-cutting subjectivations of the communication partners and the objectivation of social relations. Research examples are used to illustrate the argument, which reviews the different relations between anthropology and psychoanalysis.

Key words: Fieldwork, research, interpersonal relations, implication, listening.