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Pursuing intimacy in a surveillance regime: Fieldwork in communist Romania. : Submitted paper, special issue on espionage and surveillance, under review

Sampson, Steven LU (2024) In The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology xx. p.1-1
Abstract
Abstract: Field research in politically authoritarian contexts poses special problems for the ethnographic project of pursuing intimacy and trust. During my fieldwork in communist Romania, both up to my denial of entry in 1985, and during my subsequent public activities dealing with Romania up to 1989, I was various surveillance by Romanian security organs, who also interrogated and harassed by informants and friends in the country. Ethnographic fieldwork is supposed to be about becoming involved in the lives of the people we study. But in this particular context, I argue the single-minded pursuit of intimacy needs to be balanced by the need for distance and detachment.
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
unpublished
subject
keywords
Social anthropology, Romania, securitatea, espionage, paranoia, fieldwork, secret police, Eastern Europe, ethnography, detachment, intimacy, surveillance
in
The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology
volume
xx
pages
24 pages
publisher
Berghahn Journals
ISSN
0305-7674
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Revised version of presentation at Copenhagen University conference on anthropology of surveillance and espionage, December 2022.
id
50d88d3e-94ba-472d-ac81-ed663531f884
date added to LUP
2024-10-22 23:32:25
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:17:08
@article{50d88d3e-94ba-472d-ac81-ed663531f884,
  abstract     = {{Abstract: Field research in politically authoritarian contexts poses special problems for the ethnographic project of pursuing intimacy and trust. During my fieldwork in  communist Romania, both up to my denial of entry in 1985, and during my subsequent public activities dealing with Romania up to 1989, I was various surveillance by Romanian security organs, who also interrogated and harassed by informants and friends in the country. Ethnographic fieldwork is supposed to be about becoming involved in the lives of the people we study. But in this particular context, I argue the single-minded pursuit of intimacy needs to be balanced by the need for distance and detachment.}},
  author       = {{Sampson, Steven}},
  issn         = {{0305-7674}},
  keywords     = {{Social anthropology; Romania; securitatea; espionage; paranoia; fieldwork; secret police; Eastern Europe; ethnography; detachment; intimacy; surveillance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  pages        = {{1--1}},
  publisher    = {{Berghahn Journals}},
  series       = {{The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology}},
  title        = {{Pursuing intimacy in a surveillance regime: Fieldwork in communist Romania. : Submitted paper, special issue on espionage and surveillance, under review}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/198074799/PURSUINGINTIMACY4APRILREDREDRED22OKTANONYMYZED.docx}},
  volume       = {{xx}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}