Examines Zora Neale Hurston's work, particularly her collection of folklore and ethnography of the American South, "Mules and Men." Looks at the author's role, the ways the ethnographer inscribes herself into the text, and speculates about Hurston's understanding of the limits of the impersonal researcher.
"The 'spy-glass of Anthropology,' Zora Neale Hurston's telling metaphor for anthropological training under Franz Boaz during her Barnard years, is the most quoted and least interpreted image in a body of work remarkable for its rich configuration." --The Author