Paper short abstract:

Conducting fieldwork as an East Asian anthropologist during the Covid outbreak, I was forced to leave the field after receiving threats of violence. This paper challenges romantic ideas of ethnographic encounter, grappling with the impossibility of sentimental nostalgia when the field turns hostile.

Paper long abstract:

As an Asian American attempting to uncover sometimes difficult, complicated truths in an East African city, it would be disingenuous to pretend I was just another anthropologist in Kampala, Uganda. While I was immensely privileged, being "Chinese", for all intents and purposes, in a place deeply mistrustful and often resentful of the category into which I fell did not lead to everyday life being a romantic endeavor. Anthropologists have grappled with issues of power and inequality inherent in researcher-subject relationships, but assumptions about fieldwork being an idealistic part of anthropologists linger. The thought of not loving the place one does research continues to be unfathomable for many. But, my subjectivity led to many uncomfortable encounters in Kampala that prevents my memory of fieldwork from being purely sentimental. Because most of the Chinese and Chinese-looking population in the city is there for business, it was difficult to situate myself as an anthropologist. Aside from harmless "ching-chong" greetings and questions about China, there were more hostile meetings, including demands for me to explain why the Chinese were exploiting Ugandans. In March of 2020, when Covid was spreading across the globe and quarantine measures were being enacted, I was surrounded in downtown Kampala by people frustrated that the government did not kick Chinese contractors out of Uganda to prevent the spread of Covid. This paper reflects on this hostile ending to complicated fieldwork, asking what such a relationship to the field can offer to the production of knowledge.