It is hard to imagine in the summer sun, but in March we set off driving up towards Hallingdal, in thin snow. As we turned off the main road to climb the valley sides, the snow and ice got thicker and deeper, but the sun was shining as we made it to the top, to be met by a smiling father and young son showing us where to park and welcoming us to their hytte.
It might seem like overkill to send two anthropologists to visit a family on holiday, but we find that it is richly rewarding to work together. We can think across each other, notice things the other perhaps doesn’t, and share the task of following up, writing notes, sharing observations and analyses.
We share the experience with each other, as well as with the people we visit, so we can share our fieldwork-memories and remind each other of ideas that have struck us, discussions we have had with research-participants, and things we need to ask more about in the future. Where we make recordings, we can share the transcription – also with the help of our assistant, Catharina.
We are also taking photographs to remind us of what is important at the hytte to different people, what sorts of things we can ask our photographer, Haakon Harriss, to look out for, and how to compare Anita’s experiences with ours. It also gives us a good reference point for our individual journeys to be sure we are aligning our approaches and finding ways to be complementary to each other.
July and August saw further trips, which we will write about soon.