NAMING RESISTANCE - ETHNOGRAPHERS, DISSIDENTS, AND STATES

Ethnographic analyses of political dissidence are deeply implicated in the political contests about which ethnographers write. A comparison of the authors' fieldwork among dissidents in Argentina, Kenya, and th e United States reveals both the differing dynamics of contests over t he political and the complex ways that ethnographers are situated with in such contests. In Argentina during the last period of military rule it was dangerous to be defined as political; in Kenya, when multipart y elections were finally authorized, being recognized as political was a prerequisite for legitimacy; and in the United States, where protes t is officially legal but unofficially suspect, being defined as polit ical has advantages and disadvantages. We argue that ethnographic writ ing is inextricable from such contests, and we advocate more explicit attention to how anthropologists negotiate their positions during fiel dwork and how they reposition themselves through their writing.