Once, when writing down field notes in a Kipsigis compound, something happened which struck me deeply. A small, four-year-old boy, accompanied by his mother, entered the compound. Seeing me, the boy asked his mother: ‘What is that man doing here? He is just sitting, writing and reading, but he doesn't know anything about the compound: he doesn't know how to care for the goats and the cows, and he knows nothing about the maize! What is his use?’ The mother hastened to silence the boy, but in vain: the message was clear.

Of course, as a fieldwork experience, the incident was far from unique: most anthropologists will recognize the lesson in modesty. In ethnography, the theme even has become a topos. Perhaps anthropology is anomalous among social sciences in that within our discipline a tradition of reflection on the ‘ignorant researcher’ (Borsboom 1996: 104) has developed.

To me the incident was one out of many comparable experiences, but this time it was special. As became clear afterwards, in this case people felt truly embarrassed. Indeed, the guest ought to be treated with respect and according to his (high) age as a wise and knowing man. The same evening the boy's older brother was sent over to commence my education on how to feed the cows, how to recognize individual goats and how to evaluate the condition of the maize. The situation was awkward from the start, especially for my young tutor: a young boy instructing an old man, using teaching-methods akin to those which he knew from primary school and which he thought adequate in relation to a stranger. The venture did not last long and no grownups interfered. But it made me reflect on a theme that has become fashionable in certain circles: ‘learning from the Other’.

Particularly in cases where there is a direct confrontation of conflicting epistemologies, ‘learning from the Other’ and the transmission of the acquired knowledge may pose special problems: in such instances the problem of anthropological representation ‘meets its greatest test’ (Stoller 1989: 39). In many projects that imply bringing closely together representatives of totally different epistemological traditions, ranging from micro-finance projects to interventions into the position of indigenous healers, these problems are particularly pressing and difficult to discuss.