The Concept of the Field and Fieldwork in Early Soviet Ethnography

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of conceptualizing the field in early Soviet ethnography. The authors trace the dynamics of shaping the notion of ethnographic field in multiple intersections of discursive fields within the Leningrad school of ethnography. The study proceeds from examining three periods in the history of formation of the notion: 1) field experience of Bogoras and Shternberg during their exile and collaboration with Boas; 2) the attempt to conceptualize the field made by Bogoras and Shternberg in field research programs and the course of lectures for the first generation of Soviet ethnographers; and 3) the application of the initial ground work and experience and the reassessment of the field by their students and followers in the context of history of the Soviet ethnography of 1920s– 1930s.