“Do you Really Live Here?” Thoughts on Insider Research^*

* I wish to thank the staff and visitors at Bodie State Historic Park with whom I have worked, lived, and played. I am especially grateful to Chief Ranger J. Bradwell Sturdivant for granting permission for my research there. Funding from the Department of Geography and the Graduate School at Syracuse University helped make the research possible. Chuck Fell, Bodie's maintenance mechanic for ten years, hired me back despite teasing complaints of implied incompetence: “Buy 'em a book, send 'em to school.” I owe particular thanks to those who read and commented on this essay: Bill Anders, Sari Biklen, Paul Greenstein, Heidi Nast, Arthur Penn, Steve Pile, Helen Regis, and Karen Till.

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Dydia Delyser

Dr. DeLyser is an assistant professor of geography at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803.