Wearing the white coat: thoughts about the subjectivity and the ethnographer’s place in a medical environment

Abstract

The author discusses some issues
that arose in the course of fieldwork, part of her
doctorate thesis about the social construction of the
foetus as a person through imaging technology. The
research involved the observation of obstetrical ul-
trasound scans in private clinics in Rio de Janeiro-
Brazil. The problem in point was the search for an
anthropological view in a medical environment,
the observer herself being a physician. The request
that she wear a white coat caused questions to arise
concerning the identity of the observer, as a doctor
as well as an anthropologist. It is queried how this
duality operates in the course of the research, with
regard to the actors in this universe and in the view
of the observer. Her presence appeared to be more
perturbing to the doctors than to the mothers-to-
be. The way in which the perturbation was expres-
sed differed according to the gender of the doctor.
The researcher’s medical background facilitated the
author’s attendance at the examinations and the ac-
ceptance of the research by the subjects observed;
on the other hand, there is a tension raised by the
observer’s attempt at reaching an anthropological
view in a situation that is doubly familiar to her.