This dissertation is concerned with the ways geographical knowledges are created through the physical activity, known as “field-work”. It will look at the ways these knowledges are created, particularly through the processes of Othering. The research focuses on the expedition as a “form of methodology” whereby one can learn how knowledges, such as self-identity, are created and then negotiated through travel. The author will bring together the idea that tourists and ethnographers share similar situated knowledges and experiences tied to notions of difference and distance.
The dissertation will discuss the experiences of one such created Other, the Huaorani, an indigenous group of people who inhabit the western edge of the Amazonian Basin. I will look at the history of their experiences with their traditional Other, the cowode1and discuss the ethics of carrying out research in the developing world.