Abstract
It is with sadness that we learned that qualitative health research, both the discipline and the journal, lost one of its pioneers. Pertti (Bert) Pelto was an example to us all, one who never stopped writing, sharing, and mentoring. His first textbook, Anthropological Research: The Structure of Inquiry (Pelto, 1970; Pelto & Pelto, 1978), transformed ethnographic field work from a guild craft handed down orally from your dissertation advisor and through hard lessons learned conducting “hit-and-miss” of fieldwork, to a cogent set of guidelines for conducting ethnography that are foundational to present practice. This book had ramifications for qualitative researchers far beyond the boundaries of anthropology.
Decades before the mixed methods design flurry of the 1990s, Pelto emphasized the qualitative–quantitative mix, creating the first set of mixed methodological tools in his dissertation published in 1962. He developed the innovative techniques of participatory rural appraisal and social mapping. He rode the computer revolution maximizing the possibilities that it brought to fieldwork, linking researchers from South and East Asia, the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere in collaborative research arrangements. He provided training for teams in resource-poor nations, such as Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, establishing sites for multidisciplinary research. Beginning in 1987, he created and led—with Steve Borgatti and Russ Bernard—the US National Science Foundation Summer Methods Camp, still a key training ground for qualitative research methods.
Bert conducted fieldwork from Finland to Mexico to India, in addition to teaching and mentoring students over a period of 65 years. After completing his PhD (University of California, Berkeley), his academic positions included Cornell University, the University of Minnesota, and then more than 34 years creating and chairing the medical anthropology department at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. After “retiring” in 1993, Bert merely changed continents, spending nearly two more decades teaching and guiding research with faculty, students, and NGO staff throughout India, while consulting internationally and continuing to write and publish. Bert then returned to his home in Storrs to complete two additional methodology books (Pelto, 2013, 2017) and a family memoir published a month before his death.
Bert centered on applying community-based and social justice methods in practice long before they became buzzwords among researchers. He particularly focused on health issues important to many who read QHR: HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, and women’s and children’s rights to health care. His lifelong research achievements were recognized through the Society for Applied Anthropology’s top honor, the Malinowski Award, presented to him in 2002.
Bert gave his time generously to students and colleagues alike and was admired by all. He served as a reviewer and board member of QHR for many years. Some lucky contributors received a review of their submissions from Bert, consisting of several pages, single spaced, of helpful suggestions for improvement. If you were one of these authors, we do hope you kept your review, even if you did not know who wrote it. These anonymous comments were unique and original contributions to the literature and to your career.
He was a wonderful colleague and friend. We will miss him.