THE WRONGS OF RECIPROCITY - FIELDWORK AMONG CHILEAN WORKING-CLASS WOMEN

Reciprocity, or the ''giving back'' by the researcher to the subjects of the research in the fieldwork situation, is not often mentioned by the authors of fieldwork methodologies or ethnographies. When it is me ntioned, the pitfalls that can accompany it are rarely examined, and i t is usually presented as an unequivocally desirable practice. From ex periences with reciprocity during fieldwork with women who make the ar t form known as the arpillera in Chile, the author concludes that reci procity can be a source of insight and improved relations, but it can also cause problems for the subjects and the research. Far from unambi guously positive, reciprocity can prove a potential minefield because of the ever-changing membership status of the researcher in the group and because of differences in power, knowledge, and culture between th e researcher and the researched.