Doing anthropology in uncertain contexts: patchwork ethnography in Mozambique

Abstract

Covid-19 posed significant challenges to anthropological research as quarantines, travel restrictions and physical distance measures were introduced. In the Mozambican context, however, the pandemic added an additional critical level to previous crises (epidemics, extreme climate events, armed violence) which had led to methodological “innovations” in a field that relies on building relationships of trust. These innovations — such as conducting fieldwork in multiple stages, working collaboratively or using archives — have been conceptualised as “patchwork ethnography.” This article reflects on the impact of this methodological option on making visible agents and knowledges of struggles hitherto silenced, such as the role of ordinary women in the context of the nationalist struggle in Mozambique (1960s–1970s). Through patchwork ethnography, we obtain contextual and dense knowledge that pays attention to the changing circumstances of life and work that are profoundly altering the conditions of knowledge production.