Nagy

The Complexities of the Insider-Outsider Relationship

The ethnographer’s relationship to those he or she is observing is an important and

unique component when considering the theories that have been formed through research. These

relationships vary widely based on the individual ethnographers, the culture they have entered

into, their connection with the informants, and the type of information they are seeking. Many

ethnographers have tried to define these relationships in an attempt to understand the dichotomy

between insiders and outsiders as a way to understand the situational influences that the research

was conducted under and how this translated into the final work. Scholars have disagreed over

which approach provided a more accurate understanding of the object of study, outsider

anthropologists have the advantage of objectivity but insider anthropologists may have access to

deeper levels of comprehension. Tayfun Atay adds to this discussion by offering a third position

as being “both an insider and an outsider in fieldwork” (Atay 61). He argues that ethnographers

naturally fall between insider and outsider due to their rich understanding of the culture, their

close relationships with the people, their proximity to insider informants, and their participation

in insider activities and rituals. Russell McCutcheon also discusses the insider-outsider

relationship in his work, “Studying Religion: An Introduction.” He describes the theory as the

outsider’s, “attempt to reproduce as faithfully as possible—in a word, to describe—what might

be considered to be the informant’s own descriptions of his or her production of sounds,

behavior, beliefs, meanings, institutions, etc.” (McCutcheon 51). McCutcheon continues by

questioning the theory in terms of who validates an insider as such, the possibilities of the

outsider misrepresenting the insider, and what the motivations and purposes are for the curiosity

of the outsider (54).

1

Nagy

Atay and McCutcheon have highlighted the need to further explore the complexity of

insider-outsider relationships, as there are aspects that have only recently been brought into the

conversation by scholars such as Thomas Buckley, Kevin Lewis O’Neill and Richard Price. The

relationship between the ethnographer and informant are important, but it is also necessary to

question the informants’ relationship to, and their ability to accurately represent, their culture.

Ethnographers must consider themselves as an intruder, and the implications and disruptions

they create, as well as that group’s relation to the wider nations and cultures that surround them.

In modern ethnography it is important to note that no society, relationship, ritual act, or any

narrowed area of study can be considered as isolated and everything should be considered in

terms of the various forces that have or are influencing it. Many ethnographies consider these

modern relational interconnectedness issues, but three in particular are stretching the boundaries

of this conversation by considering how the insider-outsider dilemma can be applied to many

areas of ethnographic fieldwork. Thomas Buckley’s “Standing Ground: Yurok Indian

Spirituality 1850-1990” looks at the theory in terms of the ethnographer-informant relationship

and discusses the value of an outsider’s view. Kevin Lewis O’Neill’s “Secure the Soul:

Christian Piety and Gang Prevention in Guatemala” considers who is identified as an insider and

the relationship between the informant and the culture they represent. And finally, Richard

Price’s “Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination”

demonstrates the importance of situational context in identifying insider and outsider roles and

discusses the Saramaka’s role as an outsider when compared to the larger nation and society

surrounding them. These three works exemplify the ethnographic field’s growing awareness of

the complexity of the various relationships one encounters in fieldwork in an attempt to create a

more accurate understanding of cultures.

2

Nagy

Thomas Buckley’s work, “Standing Ground,” focuses on the Klamath River in

northwestern California where the Yurok, Karuk, Hupa and Tolowa Indians reside. Buckley met

a Yurok man named Harry Kellett Roberts in 1970 who turned into an adoptive uncle and

teacher. It was after meeting Roberts that Buckley returned to college to study anthropology

with the goal of setting “the record straight on the Yuroks” (Buckley 1). This work describes

Yurok life specifically between 1850 and 1990, and it does not address any of the modern

changes that have come about since as the Yuroks began fighting for their federal tribal status.

Buckley states his goal for this work “has been in men’s and women’s spiritual training, in the

ways people think about the world and act in it, and in the ways that these two things vary and

reemerge changed through time” (2). His writing attempts to paint a picture of Yurok culture as

a process of development and adaptation through history; this work shows a snap shot of what

life looked like during these 140 years as an “emergence through time” (Buckley 19). Buckley’s

work targets many audiences including Yurok people remembering their past, and

anthropologists studying themes of spirituality, history, Indian politics, international relations,

family structures, rituals, and interactions with a white-dominated society. Buckley’s primary

focus for this work surrounds the idea of spirituality, becoming one with the unseeable forces of

the world, and how this affects multiple different aspects of Yurok life. Spirituality is present in

the structure of their families, their ancient traditions, how they identify themselves as

individuals, their ideas of health and healing, and the idea of the jump dance working to fix our

broken world. Spirituality drives the Yurok’s training to discover each individual’s

predetermined purpose in life and their training to be spiritual beings, as well as their focus on

spirituality and prayer during healing rituals. Ethnographically it is important to note that

throughout this work Buckley is in conversation with Alfred Louis Kroeber. Kroeber has made

3

Nagy

significant contributions to the study of Yurok people and Buckley uses his work to fill in the

gaps that his research does not cover. Buckley himself also discusses his stance as an

ethnographer in terms of the insider-outsider issue in this work as something he was consciously

aware of throughout and considers its implications on his research.

Buckley’s connection with Harry Roberts shows the complexity of his position within the

insider-outsider dilemma, and his conversations about native authors demonstrates how he has

looked for different approaches to create a more authentic understanding of the Yurok culture.

Buckley mentions in his description of familial structures that he was formally adopted by

Roberts and taught by him. This reduces Buckley’s ability to remain unbiased if he was taught

and treated like an insider before and during his fieldwork. Roberts’ position is also unclear as

he is often treated like an outsider within the Yurok social structure. This brings into question

the authenticity of information that Buckley is basing his theories on if neither he nor Roberts are

insiders. Buckley discusses the question of whether outsiders should be permitted to write about

other cultures in the chapter, “Native Authors.” Looking at ethnographies written by native

authors from the Klamath area, versus works compiled by outside ethnographers, shows the kind

of information included in ethnographies, where it comes from, and most importantly, what is

omitted both on the part of the informant and the ethnographer. Native anthropology is unable to

objectively analyze one’s own society, as insider authors tend to focus on the good in the culture

and exclude any difficulties or barbaric aspects. In contrast, the Yurok people are skeptical of

non-Yurok anthropologists analyzing their culture for fear of how that author would represent

them while writing to please a Western audience. Informants will often leave out left out sacred

or secret information, which limits the overall view of that culture. Finally, this work includes

Buckley’s commentary on the importance of the insider-outsider dichotomy as he discusses the

4

Nagy

standing ground at the jump dance. The jump dance is a Yurok ritual that is meant to cure the

world’s evils and wrongdoings. The jump dance itself heavily values the spectators’ unique role

stating, “the witness of spectators seeing the dancers is itself a form of prayer, their own

contribution to fixing the world” (263). Buckley understands that he is not an insider but rather

an outsider, a spectator, whose participation is still valued and contributing to the wider cause.

Another innovative contribution to the discussion of the insider-outsider theory is Kevin

Lewis O’Neill’s work, “Secure the Soul,” which studies post-war Guatemala in the 21st century

and the political issues surrounding ex-gang members after they have been deported from

America. O’Neill speaks in depth about the themes of soft security, Christian piety, and the

United States’ connection to the issue. He describes soft security as a prevention tactic to stop

men from joining the gangs, instead of the government responding to the harm that gang culture

causes. Christian piety is understood as a necessary component of all rehabilitation strategies,

for which O’Neill uses the examples of the reality TV show filming, the call center morals, and

in the rehabilitation centers. The focus here surrounds doing good for others and continually

practicing Christian morals throughout life as an alternative to joining or remaining in a gang.

O’Neill recounts the history of illegal immigrants in the United States, how these men got

involved in gangs and gang related activities, why they were deported, and how they are

handling these issues back in Guatemala. Guatemalan institutions have also modeled gang

prevention strategies based on those implemented in the United States, especially their prison

reform and call centers. There was also a financial connection to the United States through the

evangelical Christian programs to sponsor a child, and O’Neill raises the question of the

complexity of these partnerships as to whom they are really aiming to help. Ethnographically,

O’Neill strongly exemplifies the concept of writing culture with the use of individual’s stories of

5

Nagy

transition and transformation. O’Neill used Mateo throughout the work to provide a concise,

comprehensive, and easy to follow narrative that allows the audience to visualize and connect

with a man going through these issues. Due to this narrative approach, O’Neill has placed a lot

of his theoretical analyses in his footnotes to be accessed only by those who desire it so it does

not clutter the larger work. One purpose of this ethnography was to raise awareness to the issue

of gang violence and the different solutions that are being tried, and the use of Mateo’s narrative

allowed O’Neill to expand his audience outside of the scope of the academic world. The

academic audience includes the anthropological fields of gangs, violence, drugs and alcohol

addictions, rehabilitation, international relations, modern technology, Christianity, and soft

security. The diversity of these two audiences allows O’Neill’s book to be more accessible and

reach more people.

O’Neill’s strong focus on Mateo creates a very interesting work in which to study the

insider-outsider conversation. By working so closely with Mateo, the question again is raised of

whether Mateo is the best representative of an insider. Mateo is an outsider to the United States

as an illegal immigrant, but he lived most of his life there and identifies himself as an American.

On the other hand, he was born in Guatemala, so even though technically is a Guatemalan, he

feels like an outsider there as well in terms of the way he acts and speaks. Mateo is in the unique

position of being the ultimate outsider, and O’Neill studies the implications of being an outsider

everywhere you go. In many ways Mateo is an outlier to the problem of gang violence and

rehabilitation due to the support he gets from his family and his work at the church, which others

in his position do not have. Additionally, this work presents questions of Mateo’s authenticity

because O’Neill describes in a footnote that he followed Philippe Bourgois by “frequently

selected and edited personal narrative […] so as to evoke sympathy from readers” (O’Neill 211).

6

Nagy

This complicates Mateo’s narratives and makes the ethnographer-informant relationship unclear.

Another innovative way to look at this work’s insider-outsider theory is on a larger, international

scale as O’Neill is arguing for the United States’ outsiderness in relation to Guatemala. The

United States provides support to end gang violence by offering program structures and funding,

but they are too far removed from the culture to understand the root of the problem, and

therefore, cannot create any real impact. Expanding the confines of the insider-outsider theory

past individual human relationships provides a rich development of the conversation.

A final work to consider in relation to the insider-outsider theory is Richard Price’s

“Travels with Tooy.” Price’s work is an ethnographic study of Saramaka life in Guyane and

Suriname written through the lens of the vast knowledge of Tooy Alexander, who Price met in

2000. Tooy is a “Saramaka priest of Dungulali-Obia” who practices healing rituals and has an

unmatched knowledge of the Saramaka’s history (3). Throughout this work Price is in

conversation with many different areas of scholarly concern including the studies of African

origin, African-Americans as cultural “Others,” preservation of ancestral memory, magic, rituals,

language, and justice systems. It is important to note the three audiences for this book as first the

historians, anthropologists and Afro-Americans interested in the study of creolization, second the

general readers enjoying the storytelling of Tooy’s experiences, and third the Saramakas reading

the preservation of their ancient “collective wisdom” (viii). Due to his wide range of audiences

and through the use of his main themes, Price is able to provide commentary on many topics,

showing the importance of this work in understanding the Saramaka peoples and their relation to

the world they inhabit. Price’s work focuses on the themes of origin, family, spirits, rituals,

politics, and the judicial system. The Saramaka people were enslaved and brought to the

Americas from their diverse homelands in Africa; and while they all came from different places

7

Nagy

with unique cultures, Price shows that these cultures and customs melded into one Saramaccan

ethnicity in the New World. One ethnographic method that Price employs is the inclusion of

esoteric language throughout the book, which he analyzes to demonstrate this blending of

ancestral cultures. Tooy emphasizes this importance of family in terms of wives and the younger

generations, as well as the value of ancestors and the inheritance of different gods and obia.

Price also outlines the numerous rituals and practices that Tooy performs, and all of the different

gods and spirits that are present. He discusses the politics of the area, especially concerning

Tooy’s time in Cayenne politics as the Saramaka captain, and readers see a glimpse into, and

critique of, the judicial and prison systems through Price’s discussion of Tooy’s trial. Some

smaller themes worth mentioning include, slavery and migration, spiritual possession, money,

pride and vengeance, relations with whitefolks, music, modern doubt, and relation to

Christianity. All of these themes create a sense of authenticity in Tooy as he recounts the

extensive aspects of what it means to be a Saramaccan, as well as appealing to Price’s many

layers of audience types for the work.

Price’s work takes an interesting approach by focusing so heavily on Tooy, his

experiences and his knowledge, that an audience must be critical of the accuracy and

comprehensiveness of the information in the final work. Looking at his role in his fieldwork, it

appears that he is more intimately involved in the Saramaccan’s lives than more traditional

ethnographers have been. In terms of the insider-outsider conversation, Price’s stance is

extremely close to that of an insider. He is actively learning Tooy’s rituals, helping with

practices, and acts as a translator. There is also a question of Price’s involvement in Tooy’s

personal life in terms of the rape trial. Richard and Sally Price testify to the unique Saramaka

culture to prove Tooy’s innocence in court, using their expert knowledge—validated by their

8

Nagy

white privilege and authority— to help sway the judges in favor of Tooy. Due to Price’s direct

influence on Tooy’s life, his presence has a distinctly positive effect on Tooy’s life that cannot

go unnoted. In some ways, due to Tooy’s extensive knowledge of the ancient Saramaka

narratives, it seems that Tooy is the only true insider left of the Saramakas. Price’s work serves

to preserve that knowledge, but if the inside only consists of one individual, it cannot really be

considered the “inside.” This work simultaneously focuses on Tooy’s own outsiderness as Price

contrasts him with other Saramakas, the outside world, and Price himself. Price shows that one’s

position within the context of the insider-outsider theory is based on the context of the situation;

where and what is happening determines what role each individual takes on. When Tooy is in

his home practicing a ritual, he is the insider and Price is the outsider; when Tooy is recounting

an ancestral story to a young Saramaka boy, he and Price are the insiders and the boy is the

outsider; and when Tooy is put on trial in a language that he does not speak, the judicial system

and Price are the insiders and Tooy is the outsider. As the ethnographic field evolves and adapts

to 21st century challenges, there are changes to the critical questions audiences must consider

about the nature of the ethnographic relationships through which information is gathered during

fieldwork.

The anthropology of religion is constantly changing, and the insider-outsider dichotomy

is one way to understand the broader scope of research and the ever-increasing influences that

must be taken into consideration. First of all, each of these three works demonstrates the

complexity of the relationships between an ethnographer and his or her informants. Buckley

demonstrates this relationship with his connection to Roberts, and also raises the question of

whether or not Roberts was the best person to represent the Yurok insiders. O’Neill’s

relationship with Mateo showed a more casual friendship through which O’Neill was able to

9

Nagy

extract a lot of useful information. We can see the laxity of this relationship through Mateo

addressing O’Neill as “homie” and their laid-back conversations about Mateo’s hard times,

drugs, and alcohol. In Price’s work this close relationship is seen again as Tooy and Price are

mutually beneficial to one another. In these situations it is important to note the motivation for

both the ethnographer and the informant; for example, Tooy wanted to teach Price these

narratives and rituals because he was the only person to express interest and because he wanted

the First Time stories to be preserved. Also with these closer relationships, ethnographers are

gaining access to otherwise guarded information and are privy to more casual conversations and

interactions that could be extremely helpful for their research. In each of these examples there is

a friendship aspect that creates the basis for the relationship, but when choosing the main

informant, that person’s insiderness is more important than your friendship with him or her.

Overall, such narrow conversations may present blind spots in an ethnographer’s research, but

could also provide otherwise untapped knowledge about a given subject.

Modern ethnography must then be expanded beyond the traditional ethnographer-

informant relationship to encapsulate the many levels of relationships that are seen in fieldwork.

These books demonstrate the insider-outsider relationships between their informants and the

wider society they are a part of. Roberts is a bit of an outsider in relation to other Yurok people,

Mateo is seen as privileged and unable to understand the hardships others in his situation go

through, and Tooy’s vast knowledge makes him one of a kind and far removed from the other

Saramakas. These relationships directly affect the information that an ethnographer bases his or

her assumptions on, so therefore, choosing the best informant is highly significant. Finally, this

discussion should be expanded to consider the relation between the group of people being

studied and the wider societies they interact with or are controlled by. “Standing Ground” looks

10

Nagy

at the relations between the Yurok and Northern California residents and the American

government. In “Secure the Soul” the relationship between ex-gang members and Guatemala is

outlined, as well as the complex connections between the United States and Guatemala—both in

terms of the history of the problem, the implementation of prevention and rehabilitation

programs, and funding for solutions. However, “Travels with Tooy” addresses this approach

most directly in the discussion of the Saramaka’s history of captivity and slavery, and through

Tooy’s trial in the French judicial system. Price outlines how Saramaccans have historically

been seen as cultural “Others” and the ways in which this oppression is still present and effective

in the modern day. During the trial, the Richard and Sally Price’s opinions are valued as experts

because they are white anthropologists, and while their description of Saramaka sex culture

proved Tooy’s acts did not constitute rape and did lessen his sentence, the French court did still

find Tooy guilty and sentenced him to jail time. As the world becomes more advanced,

communities are becoming increasingly interconnected with, and dependent on, one another. No

group of people can be studied as isolated from the world around them, so studying their

connectedness to other groups of people is extremely important to achieve a full understanding

of who they are.

The anthropological study of religion has engaged in the conversation of insider and

outsider identities in terms of the role of an ethnographer during fieldwork. Atay, McCutcheon,

and many other ethnographers have provided commentary on this problem discussing the

importance of ethnographers as outsiders so they can provide analytical, unbiased commentary,

stating that insider authors would not be able to complete this work because they would be

unable to remain objective. While the need for outsiders to conduct and analyze the research has

been thoroughly stated, very few scholars have pushed the conversation past this narrowed view

11

Nagy

of the insider-outsider dilemma. Ethnographers such as Buckley, O’Neill and Price have been

able to analyze the many relationships an ethnographer enters into or observes during their

fieldwork, and have been able to analyze the information flow and power structures present in

these relationships. These authors have studied the relationship between the ethnographer and

his or her informant, especially focusing on the close bonds of friendship that are often formed in

the field and the obligations that go along with a mutually beneficial relationship. The stance of

the informants chosen are also highly discussed in these works as the questions of who can be

determined an insider and how authentic the information an ethnographer is receiving are raised.

And finally, widening the discussion of the insider-outsider relationships to include whole

groups of people shows the large implications of the world’s interconnectedness. Buckley,

O’Neill and Price are providing innovative commentary on this common conversation, and are

challenging those around them to look all of the types of relationships ethnographers encounter

during fieldwork and all the information that can be gleaned from the nature and interactions of

those relationships.

12

Nagy

Works Cited

Atay, Tayfun. 2008. "Arriving in Nowhere Land: Studying an Islamic Sufi Order in London."

Taking Sides: Ethics, Politics and Fieldwork in Anthropology. Ed. Heidi Armbruster and

Anna Laerke, 45-64. New York: Berghahn Books.

Buckley, Thomas C. T. Standing Ground: Yurok Indian Spirituality, 1850-1990. Berkeley: U of

California, 2002. Print.

McCutcheon, Russell T. "Religion and the Insider/Outsider Problem." Studying Religion: An

Introduction. London: Equinox Pub., 2007. 49-57. Print.

O'Neill, Kevin Lewis. Secure the Soul: Christian Piety and Gang Prevention in Guatemala.

Oakland: U of California, 2015. Print.

Price, Richard. Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination.

Chicago: University of Chicago, 2008. Print.

13