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thority of the author, who, at least ill much ethnography, stands above
too often, the ethn()~rapher forgets that the nati\c, like Eduard in
shoulder. If he does not dose his book, he will cast his shadow (H'er it.
Of course, the ethnographer will also cast his shadow oyer it. It is per
haps for this rcason, if r may conclude with the conceit of my own tale
of entry into this paper, that Zeus ulHlerstood whcn Hermes prom
ised to tell no lies but did not Drolllise to tell the whole truth.
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RENATO ROSALDO
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79
This beginning makes it clear that the reader wi\llearn, ill a remark
ably evocative way, about the texture of fourteenth-century peasant
life. The rich, vivid descriptions, quite unlike those in other historical
works concerned with medieval villagers, do indeed make compelling
"ethnographic" reading. The peasants have beell textualized in ways
that characterize the speakers as articulate and insight rul about the
conditions of their own existence. Yet the historian's trope of making
late medieval peasant voices directly audible to readers in the present
arouses more skepticism than appreciation among ethnographers ac
customed to pondering difficulties in the translation of cultures.
From the outset the historian's innocent tone gives reason to pause.
How can his data ("the direct testimony of the peasants themselves")
have remained untainted by the context of domination ("the Inquisi
tion Register")? After all, the inquisitor extracted the testimonies as
confessions; he did not overhear them as cOllversatiolls in everyday
life. What could motivate the historian to separate the data from the
instrument through which they were collected?
Le Roy Ladurie goes on to buttress the authority of his document
through the strategy of novelistic realism carried to extremes.' He
names names, provides titles, cites specific places, and refers to exact
dates, He even goes on to give an impressive sketch of Jacques Four
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