{"title":"Researching Words without Speaking Them. Language as Care Practice in Multi-Lingual Care Environments in Poland.","authors":"Luise Schurian-Dąbrowska, Kristine Krause","doi":"10.1080/01459740.2023.2223998","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Being able to speak and understand local languages is regarded as an important prerequisite for conducting fieldwork. In this article we reflect on fieldwork in which we did not speak the local language - Polish - but in which we could still learn something about a central practice in our field sites: how language was implicated in practices of care. Hanging out as linguistically constricted researchers propelled us to research situations in which care was done through using words as sounds and practices, rather than relying on meanings, and to relate to not sharing a language in new ways.</p>","PeriodicalId":47460,"journal":{"name":"Medical Anthropology","volume":" ","pages":"815-827"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medical Anthropology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2023.2223998","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/8/15 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Being able to speak and understand local languages is regarded as an important prerequisite for conducting fieldwork. In this article we reflect on fieldwork in which we did not speak the local language - Polish - but in which we could still learn something about a central practice in our field sites: how language was implicated in practices of care. Hanging out as linguistically constricted researchers propelled us to research situations in which care was done through using words as sounds and practices, rather than relying on meanings, and to relate to not sharing a language in new ways.
期刊介绍:
Medical Anthropology provides a global forum for scholarly articles on the social patterns of ill-health and disease transmission, and experiences of and knowledge about health, illness and wellbeing. These include the nature, organization and movement of peoples, technologies and treatments, and how inequalities pattern access to these. Articles published in the journal showcase the theoretical sophistication, methodological soundness and ethnographic richness of contemporary medical anthropology. Through the publication of empirical articles and editorials, we encourage our authors and readers to engage critically with the key debates of our time. Medical Anthropology invites manuscripts on a wide range of topics, reflecting the diversity and the expanding interests and concerns of researchers in the field.