Sunday was one of the occasional masses in which the congregation goes forward to receive the elements. I found myself scribbling some notes just before this point in the liturgy, and was thoroughly disoriented. Did I go forward as a communicant or stay put as a researcher?
Allowing myself half a minute or so to breathe, the shrill squeal of ethnographic feedback receded and I went forward, but that participant-observer paradox is never far below the surface.
No comments:
Post a Comment