Appalachian Affects: Fieldwork as Material Ecology. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gleason, Sean
• Other Names: Clemens Randall F. guest-editor.; Lincoln Yvonna S. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Cultural studies, critical methodologies. Volume 20:Number 5(2020)
• Page Start: 460
• Page End: 467
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: sensory ethnography -- Appalachia -- posthumanism -- dwelling; Culture -- Research -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Research -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1177/1532708619863454
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1532-7086

Abstract

This essay—based on fieldwork with off-grid homebuilders in the Mid-Ohio River Valley—recognizes ethnography as a more-than-human ecology of habit, rhythm, and affect. I begin by describing some of the materials, species, and affects I encountered during this fieldwork to show how Appalachian history, geography, and habit influenced my performance of sensory ethnography. From these anecdotes, field notes, and vignettes, I theorize ethnographic fieldwork as, first and foremost, a rhythmic attunement to place and bodies, especially nonhuman ones. In turn, I argue for a practice of fieldwork that roots human experience within a vibrant material ecology of more-than-human forces.