Ethnography, belief ascription, and epistemological barriers

While ascribing beliefs to one's subjects is a common practice for most eth nographers, I argue that this task is far more difficult and error-prone th an commonly realized. I lay out the fundamental epistemological problems fo r belief ascribers and explain why certain sorts of ascriptions are especia lly difficult to make accurately. I suggest some guidelines for making ethn ographic belief ascription less error-prone.