Ideas for an aesthetic reflection on anthropological work

Abstract

This article suggests how to deepen anthropological discipline through a method based on aesthetic references originating in the literary field, by means of a narrative (albeit partial) on the unfolding of a specific ethnographic study. To accomplish this task, the researcher invites the reader to retrace with him some moments of his personal and professional experience in a project on the territorial occupation put in place by a Canadian mining corporation in a semi-desert valley in the state of Zacatecas, in northern Mexico. The reconstruction of the events and the manner in which the research took place then leads the author to reflect on the premises on which anthropological knowledge is built and to report examples of how some of the discipline's most distinguished exponents, drew from aesthetic resources at certain moments in their studies. The work uses narrative stylistic techniques to make sure that the content proposed in the reading is reflected in the formal organization of the writing.