Writing for, versus about, the ethnographic other: Issues of engagement and reflexivity in working with a tribal NGO in Indonesia

This article examines current thinking about the divide between the ethnographic subject and object, based on my recent work with a Dayak NGO in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. I suggest that the increasing complexity of relations between ethnographer and subject, as in my involvement with this NGO, necessitates some rethinking of our concept of the ethnographic project. I argue, first, that this new ethnographic order of things challenges us to think strategically about the need to counter rather than critique monolithic representations. There may be a need for us to contribute to the construction of representation, rather than to avoid representation. Second, I argue that we need to worry less about the unintended consequences of our study of local organizations and movements, and to worry more about the intended consequences of our relative lack of study of central institutions of power. The proliferation of local organizations challenges us to rethink key ethnographic boundaries, not just between subject and object, but also between the center and periphery of the discipline, between North and South, and between modern and post‐modern paradigms.

Key words:

• Ethnographic practice
• Circulation of Representations
• Non‐governmental organizations
• Dayak
• Kalimantan (Indonesia)