Dialogical Methodology in Cultural Researches

Methodology in anthropology, like in other social sciences, is a central part of any research. Despite universalism in methodology in social sciences, in anthropological fieldwork it should be noted that field methods are constructed by the relation between the researcher and the field context. This relationship is formed in the context of its methodological assumptions and the political relationship between researcher and subject. The problem of methodology is very important in theresearches that researcher belongs to the field. Indigenous anthropology is not common in anthropological methodologies that western researcher does fieldwork in nonwestern contexts. This paper is based on our fieldwork concerning religious rituals in Iran (our community) and proposes the methodology of Dialogue for indigenous anthropology. For justifying this method, firstly we critically review the paradigm of anthropological methodology and its insufficiencies for indigenous anthropologists. The basis of these ideas is that culture is mainly situated in unconscious part thepeople`s minds, and that the best medium to reach this part is the language.This is how the methodology of dialogue has been formed. According to this method, dialogue can help us to understand the implicit cultural knowledge that is common for the native anthropologist as well as the natives. This knowledge by the process of dialogue can be transmitted to conscious part of the mind; it can then be analyzed as anthropological and cultural subject.