How Much Do You Pay? versus Let’s Share!: Modes of Interaction During Fieldwork in Nepal

During my fieldwork on the ritual dance of the Nava Durgā in Bhaktapur, Nepal, I have faced two different juxtaposed types of attitude in my interlocutors. The first type, typical of those interlocutors who have experiences in assisting Western researchers, privileges the economic element. Their co-operation is a service measured in money. Because of their experiences as "privileged informants" following colonial methods, they have a standardised way of working. I have found it difficult to have a dialogue on an equal footing with these intermediaries, and their presence has often had a limiting effect on my relationship with the dancers. The second type is dialogic and collaborative. Their recognition that research is my motivation is one of the principal reasons why they share and teach me their culture. Together we are investigating and making known a complex reality that has rarely been studied before. Mutual sharing is thus encouraged. The divergence between these two attitudes has intensified during the period of the pandemic. Restrictions on travel have fuelled nostalgia in such a way that sharing with my “collaborative interlocutors” on social media has become more frequent, while paid co-operation has been reduced to some specific translation work. In this paper I will describe the different strategies that I have created to negotiate these two types of relationships during my field research. Moreover, the issues related to my personal experience during the fieldwork, will be discussed within the framework of the current scholarly debate on collaborative research.