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A Pathway to Knowledge
realize how different my life would become in taking up the practice
and performance of this instrument. And as I continue on the jour-
ney of learning to be a tabla player both in India and in North Amer-
ica, I continue also to learn anthropologically.
Embodiment, Experience, and Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship, as one form of participant observation allows the re-
searcher to experience and communicate the embodiedness of self and
other. Adopting the apprenticeship approach to the study of others
moves the discipline toward a reconceptualization of the fieldwork
process itself. It questions the basic assumptions about how we do
what we do, the doing of anthropology. How do we learn anthropo-
logically? How can we simultaneously go beyond and work within the
problematic of postcolonial fields? Apprenticeship demands that an-
alysts begin with embodied experience. As a tabla apprentice I came
to realize that the anthropological field is not “out there,” connected
to a piece of land or a bounded geographical site. In an anthropology
of apprenticeship, the body becomes the field site.
Gurus and Disciples
Originating from the Indian Brahmanical tradition of religious study,
the guru–shishya or ustad–shagird (Persian, used as a form of address
for Muslim masters) tradition is a culturally specific form of learning.
This apprenticeship offers no easy translation culturally, spiritually,
or philosophically. There seems to be a certain tendency today in In-
dia to have a guru, or multiple gurus, who guide others in all aspects
of life, be it in a trade, an art form, a spiritual pursuit, or otherwise.
Ranade ( 1984 , 31 ) suggests that the relationship of guru and shishya
is qualitatively different from the usual student–teacher relationships.
Traditionally, disciples were expected to participate in the guru-kula
system of learning, where the student would travel to and live with his
or her master to apprentice in a craft, trade, or discipline. In this ev-
eryday world of apprenticeship, disciples would then be close to the
master, come to know him in an intimate way, and learn to embody
his knowledge, style, and way of being.
