The Line: An Ethnographic Field Diary from a Namibian Research Trip in 1996

The Line is the private diary of ethnologist Sonja Speeter-Blaudszun, which she kept during her fieldwork in Namibia in 1996. It was not written with the intention of later publication; rather, she composed it as a source and critical reflection of her research trip to the Ju'hoansi in the Nyae-Nyae region of the Kalahari. She was particularly interested in the expeditions of the American explorer family Marshall. These research trips were and remain of fundamental importance to the Ju'hoansi, as well as to San research in general. "My diary is a text that also reflects the political-ethical zeitgeist of anthropology in the 1990s and the increasing implications that anthropological research entails for all participants. Unlike a diary, we cannot discern in a completed ethnography how the daily changing relationships and new experiences of an anthropologist in her daily research work affect the formation and design of an ethnography. To allow for objectivity in my observations, I used the daily reflection in the diary to organize and structure them, and also as an outlet for my immediate thoughts in Namibia." Sonja Speeter-Blaudszun