KARSTEN PAERREGAARD The resonance of fieldwork. Ethnographers, informants and the creation of anthropological knowledge Conventionally, anthropology has maintained a sharp distinction between subject and object by defining the relation between the fieldworker and his/her subject as an us/them relationship, allowing the anthropologist to retain his/her authoritative voice in the ethnographic text. However, in recent years, a growing body of literature has engaged in a critical revision of the implicit notion of the ethnographer as a neutral and objective observer (Clifford and Marcus 1986), and the self/other dichotomy that his- torically has shaped anthropology’s relation to its objects of study (Abu-Lughod 1991; Coronil 1996; Kondo 1986; Trouillot 1991) in an endeavour to humanise the ‘other’ in relation to the fieldworker. Consider the following incident that occurred in 1986 while carrying out my fieldwork in Tapay, an Andean village in the southern highlands of Peru. A group of Tapeños requested me to enact the role of misti (a native term for any foreigner of European appearance) in the annual celebration of one of the village’s many saints. They suggested that my part as misti would complement the traditional presentation of Peru’s multiracial society by a team of villagers acting as clowns in the event, two dressed as indios (native Andean Peruvians) and one as negro (African Peruvian). The role required me to dress in a long dark gown with a round, black hat and high boots, a blend of three classical figures in Spanish colonial history: the conquistador, the squire and the priest. The villagers told me to treat the other clowns like indios: that is, with severity, even whipping them, if necessary. They also warned me that since indios are not only lazy but also capricious and unreliable, I should be wary if anyone offered me a drink as it might be mixed with urine. Although I never complied with the request, the image of me participating in the ritual as misti provoked much mirth and comment among the villagers. Humanising the other The incident made me reflect upon the images through which Tapeños perceived me and become aware of the cognitive map that underlay their exploration of the ethno- graphic self. It also prompted me to explore the analytical implications which Tapeños’ attempt to index and classify me have for anthropological knowledge production. An important premise for such an exploration and for studying the native cataloguing of Social Anthropology (2002), 10, 3, 319–334. © 2002 European Association of Social Anthropologists 319 DOI: 10.1017/S0964028202000216 Printed in the United Kingdom