The Mike Douglas Cookbook

by Mike Douglas, Rachel Newcomb (Editor)

Encountering Morocco introduces readers to life in this North African country through vivid accounts of fieldwork as personal experience and intellectual journey. We meet the contributors at diverse stages of their careers from the unmarried researcher arriving for her first stint in the field to the seasoned fieldworker returning with spouse and children. They offer frank descriptions of what it means to take up residence in a place where one is regarded as an outsider, learn the language and local customs, and struggle to develop rapport. Moving reflections on friendship, kinship, and belief within the cross-cultural encounter reveal why study of Moroccan society has played such a seminal role in the development of cultural anthropology.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the works in this collection are very anthropologically reflexive; many seemed more memoir-esque than purely academic essays. For the most part, the contributors avoid outdated or problematic motifs of earlier anthropology. The essays offer more reflections on general anthropological issues (ie: the ethnographer-informant relationship) than on topics very specific to Morocco, perhaps because many of these essays were written as meta-reflections on more specific works the author did in Morocco, but readers will still certainly encounter vivid portrayals and interesting conceptions of Morocco.
An almost comedic amount of references, mostly rather critical, were made to Paul Rabinow’s Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco, so perhaps that would be a good book to read beforehand.

[Angélica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every fieldwork shape and change your perspective of what you are and do as an anthropologist. Do you understand other cultures? do not be so sure... read the testimony of this people and immerse in their lives ...

[Gwyneth Talley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anthropologists and everyone going to Morocco

This was an excellent read from start to finish and I would recommend it for all anthropologists as it shows the difficulties, struggles, and rewards that fieldwork can offer. Morocco has long been a favorite of anthropologists and this book offers a way to look at it outside ethnography and show that research is complicated, mysterious, and unpredictable.