Citation

Du S. Ethnology 2012; 51(2): 111-127.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, University of Pittsburgh)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article explores an epidemic of love-suicide in a Lahu community of southwest China in the 1950s. Suicide's rarity and the methodological constraints of ethnographic fieldwork have severely hampered attempts to understand suicide cross-culturally. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods in a longitudinal fieldwork study provides insights regarding the patterns of suicide in a marginalized ethnic group. By developing a "retrospective survey" of suicide based on cluster sampling, this research demonstrates how to effectively incorporate a quantitative dimension in community-based fieldwork. This helps develop better ethnographic methods for documenting suicide and providing better data for cross-cultural comparison. (Suicide, China, ethnographic method, ethnic minority) Copyright © 2014 The University of Pittsburgh. All rights reserved.

Language: en