Investigating neorurals and squatters' lifestyles: personal and epistemological insights on participant observation and on the logic of ethnographic investigation

Abstract

In my PhD thesis in Environmental Science, I used fieldwork amongst 'neorural' communities in the Iberian Pyrenees, & direct participation amongst 'okupas' (squatters) in Barcelona, I reflect on the two methodologies (ethnographic investigation & participant observation) that I used, & I discuss their application with respect to the style & to the particular context of the investigation. The experience of living within the Barcelona squatting community predated the decision to do the rural fieldwork; so, I argue, the distinction between observer & observed is purely artificial. I discuss the epistemological implications.