Los documentos como campo. Reflexiones teórico-metodológicas sobre un enfoque etnográfico de archivos y documentos estatales

Abstract

In this article we consider the methodology in our own respective research projects about the functioning of different State-institutions. Both projects use a variety of documents and these became a central piece to outline the field. Describing the obstacles and precautions assumed for the document’s analysis, our aim is to account for the ways in which the anthropologists deal with written sources produced and archived by the State and which, therefore, enhance the power of the state (Bourdieu, 1996). We understand that these documents should rather be studied as a field for interrogation.