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Strategies of Power: An Analysis of an Encounter in the Andaman IslandsMassey University If ethnographic inquiry is premised on securing rapport, what is the status of research that is structured on the presumed failure of rapport? Does the existence of rapport actually confer legitimacy on the research, besides endorsing the "truth" claims of information obtained by engaging in the process of fieldwork? The author raises these questions in an attempt to decipher an incident that occurred at the end of her research in India's Andaman Islands. In the process, the author has begun to conclude that in some cases, the inability to construct rapport, or its breakdown, leads to greater self–reflection and eventually a more critical understanding of the fieldwork situation. Hence, self–awareness and reflexivity are at the cost of intersubjective understanding and perhaps of uncertain standing in the hierarchy of value ascribed to ethnographic knowledge.
Key Words: Jarawa • Anadaman Islands • contact • fieldwork • postcolonialism
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