Reflexiones metodológicas sobre investigaciones etnográficas con “Chinos” y “Taiwaneses” en Argentina

Abstract

This article arises from the confluence of work by two researchers with different backgrounds who have encountered similar methodological difficulties in their research. Conconi holds a degree in Oriental Studies and a postgraduate degree in Chinese Language and Culture with a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council at Harbin Normal University. She is a student in the social anthropology doctoral program at the Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales (IDAES) of the National University of San Martín (UNSAM). She works as a consultant in Chinese companies and as an applied anthropologist. Denardi began her research with Chinese migrants in 2012, when she began the same PhD program. She had not had any previous contact with Chinese people or institutions, and knew little of the Chinese language, history and geopolitics. Despite the differences, throughout our respective investigations we have faced different situations in which the fieldwork presents challenges. Sharing these situations inspired us to write an article of a methodological nature, whose purpose is to provide other researchers with strategies to develop their work with people who identify themselves as Chinese and Taiwanese. Throughout these pages we realize the importance of history, politics and certain cultural practices extended in many of the consultants as tools to understand their ethnographic present. In the same way, particular conceptions of time and social hierarchies will indicate which are the best methodological strategies in order to generate empathy, and which are not to be recommended.