cultural poesis

is suggesting a role for 'poetry in ethnography, however, it should be kept in mind that poetry is not limited to romantic or modernist subjectivism: It can be historical, precise, objective. And of course it is just as conventional and institutionally determined as 'prose'.

In the wake of semiotics, post-structuralism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction there has been considerable talk about a return to plain speaking and to realism. But to return to realism one must first have left it! Moreover, to recognize the poetic dimensions of ethnography does not require that one give up facts and accurate accounting for the supposed free play of poetry. 'Poetry' is not limited to romantic or modernist subjectivism: it can be historical, precise, objective. And of course it is just as conventional and institutionally determined as 'prose.' Ethnography is hybrid textual activity: it traverses genres and disciplines. The essays in this volume do not claim ethnography is 'only literature.' They do insist it is always writing. (25-6)

is the constant reconstitution of selves and others through specific exclusions, conventions, and discursive practices.

It has become clear that every version of an 'other,' wherever found, is also the construction of a 'self,' and the making of ethnographic texts, as Michael Fischer, Vincent Crapanzano, and others in this volume show, has always involved a process of 'self-fashioning' (Greenblatt 1980). Cultural poesis and politics is the constant reconstitution of selves and others through specific exclusions, conventions, and discursive practices. The essays that follow provide tools for the analysis of these processes, at home and abroad. (23-4)

cultural poesis, n.Definitions

cultural poesis