Getting it right

In this article the nature of anthropological knowledge is discussed with a view to a reassessment of the call for evidence. It will be argued that the traditional view of evidence as being somehow outside a particular argument is untenable, given the way in which anthropology accesses knowledge by engaging a particular field. This may be seen to lead to an uneasy question of authority in anthropology, yet at closer inspection, it is possible to establish new grounds for anthropological authority and to arrive at a new sense of ‘getting it right’. The general discussion is substantiated by reference to the author’s work on Icelandic history as well as her fieldwork in Iceland.