[en] In recent years, the author has extended his concerns with the remaking of classic anthropological expectations and practices of ethnography through a series of discussions and collaborations (as reflected in Navigators of the Contemporary: Why Ethnography Matters, by David Westbrook, 2008, and Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary, 2008, and in projects of the Centre for Ethnography at the University of California, Irvine at http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~ethnog/) that concern 'design studio thinking' for producing ethnography, and what he calls 'parasite' experiments emerging in the heart of fieldwork today. This work depends on rethinking the imaginaries for 'scenes of encounter' and what is transacted in ethnographic fieldwork. These imaginaries have been richly reconceived in standard ethnographic writing, transformed by the license, even requirement, since the 1980s, to be 'reflexive.' The subjects and objects of recent ethnography have caught up with, and challenged, reflexive thinking such that the very project of innovative ethnography is shifting toward what is labelled (at least in U.S. anthropology) as 'activist' or 'public,' rather than being merely critical. The author has found the ethnographic kinds of inquiry or consideration embedded in the productions of theatre and certain projects of conceptual/performance art to be inspirational in conceiving of a 'refunctioned' anthropological ethnography. While anthropology is unlikely to recognize its own poetics more, or in a different form than it traditionally has, its commitment to 'activist' and 'public' purposes connects it both pragmatically and in terms of craft to certain projects of theatre and art. Georges Marcus wants to use his talk to continue to draw and encourage these connections.

[fr] Ces dernières années, George Marcus a exposé ses propositions pour un renouvellement de l'anthropologie et des méthodes de l'ethnographie dans diverses discussions et collaborations (Navigators of the Contemporary : Why Ethnography Matters, par David Westbrook, 2008 ; Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary, 2008 ; Centre d'Ethnographie de l'Université de Californie, Irvine – http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~ethnog). Son travail consiste à repenser l'imaginaire à partir " des scènes de rencontres " et des transactions effectuées sur le terrain. Amplement reconnu dans la littérature ethnographique, depuis 1980, cet imaginaire est devenu de plus en plus " réflexif ". Cependant, les sujets et les objets ethnographiques contestent cette pensée réflexive. Aux Etats-Unis, l'innovation tend à délaisser l'anthropologie critique pour se tourner vers une anthropologie " active " ou " participative ". Dans cette perspective, les enquêtes ethnographiques sur les productions théâtrales, sur les projets d'art conceptuel et sur les performances, deviennent une source d'inspiration pour une anthropologie ethnographique revisitée. Tandis que l'anthropologie reste généralement incapable de reconnaître ses présupposés poétiques, son engagement " actif " et " participatif " la conduit à se rapprocher de certaines pièces théâtrales et artistiques. L'intervention de Georges Marcus vise à encourager ces connections.