Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the book as an essay that calls for uninhibited methods in anthropology. Such methods attempt to turn the inhibitions of Western writers, which originate from the guilt they experience in their relationships with the people they study, into a creative force rather than a burden.

The first chapter of the book will analyse methodological failures in which issues of reflexivity, reciprocity, sincerity, respect, and integration are at stake. The second chapter will build on this critique through the concept of “ethnogastritis” and outline strategies for integrating and writing the field.

In this introduction, the exoticism of Taiwan hints at the emotional kind of anthropology that the book intends to dwell on, and promote.