The Field and the Work: Hybridity as Mantra and Method^*

* Fieldwork in Bahia was supported by a Robert C. West Field Research Award granted by the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University in 2010, and by the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program funded in 2012 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as an IIE Graduate Fellowship for International Study. I am deeply grateful for many collaborators in Bahia and elsewhere in Brazil for their knowledge, contributions, and patience; Daniel Jesus dos Santos, Urano Andrade de Cerqueira, and Chefão deserve special recognition. I thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their thoughtful comments, which improved the article tremendously. All errors and failures in interpretation remain mine alone.

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines an adaptable concept of hybridity to frame and facilitate fieldwork, research, and writing. It combines geographical theories of place and methodology to propose a hybrid approach to mixed-method research. Hybrid field-work iterates and mixes multiple methods for imagining and co-conducting research in and with places. Reflections on the author’s fieldwork in Northeast Brazil illustrate the approach.

Keywords:

• Bahia
• complexity
• ethnography
• fieldwork
• landscape interpretation