Painful Fieldwork?

doi:10.1017/9781009294904.012

Chapter 9 - Painful Fieldwork?

Radical Empiricism and Ritual Performance in the Philippines

from Part II - Doing

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2024

Julius Bautista

Edited by

Tracy C. Davis and

Paul Rae

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Tracy C. Davis: Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Paul Rae: Affiliation:
University of Melbourne

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Summary

This chapter covers an account of fieldwork among Filipino Roman Catholic ritual practitioners alongside those of phenomenologically inclined anthropologists and performance studies scholars, particularly those who have deployed a ‘radically empirical’ approach. The author examines how these scholars have channelled the vicissitudes and anxieties of fieldwork towards productive ethnographic insights. The radical empiricist project is particularly feasible in contexts in which ethnographers encounter less ‘rational’ but intrinsically human experiences such as pain, suffering, healing, and illness in the reenactment of Christ’s Passion. This chapter offers a reflection on the methodological feasibility of embodied and ‘distendedly reflexive’ approaches towards a more expansive understanding of religious pain and suffering.

Keywords

ethnography empiricism rationalism ritual embodiment pain

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Guide to Mixed Methods Research for Theatre and Performance Studies , pp. 176 - 189

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009294904.012 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2024

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Chapter 9 - Painful Fieldwork?

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