SAMTALEN SOM INTERVIEW: At tale om kulturelle artikulationer i Kina

Resumé

John A. Larsen: Conversation as Interview.

Talking about Cultural Articulations

in China

In the beginning of the article the theoretical

interest in the problems conceming the cultural

articulation of the minority group is

presented as the context for the methodological

thematic. On the basis of fieldwork

among the minority group Naxi in Southwestem

China this article examines the advantages

of viewing field conversations as different

kinds of interviews. Three interview types

are presented taking into account the formal,

systematic properties as the situations

under which the interviews took place.

Through the article more general problems

conceming the status of the fieldworker and

the use of interpreters are discussed. It is argued

that the understanding of data generating

conversations as type of interview allows

for a greater awareness of the formal

information as well as the discourses within

which this information is articulated. This

more systematic approach to the production

and analysis of field conversations has pro-

ved to be especially fruitful in the unveiling

of the discourses and processes behind an articulation

of the minority culture, which has

been the analytic aim of this investigation.