Fieldwork

by Bruce Jackson

Book by Jackson, Bruce

Genres: Folklore, Anthropology, Nonfiction

311 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Bruce Jackson is an American folklorist, documentary filmmaker, writer, photographer. He is SUNY Distinguished Professor and the James Agee Professor of American Culture at the University at Buffalo. Jackson has edited or authored books published by major university presses. He has also directed and produced five documentary films.

Reviews

[Meg]

Honestly, this is probably a five star book. I love Bruce Jackson, even from the perspective of a casual reader, but I would not know his work had he not been recommended to me as a student in the field.

The only reason I'm giving this four stars is because it's several decades outdated. Jackson's writing in the first half and in the chapter on Ethics is timeless and will never be outdated (though perhaps contextualized historically if you're looking to critique him from various critical lenses), but his chapters on equipment are totally unnecessary now. I tried to read through them anyway to understand more of the technical process from back in the day and maybe pick up things that could be applied to my blue tooth mic and iPad set up, but it was so specific to the tech of the time, that I just skipped it.

I could've maybe spent more time reading up on note-taking. I probably should have. Oh well.

This book is staying on my shelf forever.