On Acknowledgements in Ethnographies

Abstract

Acknowledgements in ethnographies are analyzed as special textual constructs that relate both inwards toward the main parts of ethnographic texts and outwards toward the social contexts within which these ethnographies are produced. The analysis focuses on how the formulation of acknowledgements is related to strategic choices in careering, the management of relations in the anthropological community, the construction of ethnographic credibility and authenticity, and the creation of images of anthropologists as social persons. The analysis is placed within the theoretical context of the recent trends towards professional reflexivity and points to the shortcomings of some of these trends.