WHAT IS FIELDWORK What is fieldwork Fieldwork is

WHAT IS FIELDWORK?

What is fieldwork? Fieldwork is living with a group under study – and remains a hallmark of modern anthropological methods. Writing about fieldwork, Paul Rabinow stated that, “Culture is interpretation. The ‘facts’ of anthropology, the material that the anthropologist has gone to the field to find, are already themselves interpretations. ” (1977: 155) These interpretations are in effect translations from one cultural system into another. In the past, most anthropologists worked into societies different from their own, but today many work in their own countries and some even in their own communities. In addition, some anthropologists focus on secondary analyses of existing data rather than gathering primary data (database comparison & ethnologies based on historical documents).

Much of the work of anthropology consists of collecting and analyzing information about culture – that is, people’s activities, beliefs and attitudes. The methods used in ethnographic work obviously depend on the kind of data required. Because cultural anthropology is concerned with the complex study of living cultures, anthropologists need to obtain many different kinds of information in many different kinds of settings. Anthropologists’ initial fieldwork experiences often set the framework in which their research interests develop and continue throughout their careers. Anthropologists traditionally chose research problems and sites in foreign countries. This is still a common approach, but today many anthropologists work in their own countries, even in their own communities.

Fieldwork involves a complex process of observing and participating in another culture. Participant observation is the core of the fieldwork experience. Anthropologists both observe the activities taking place in the community, and participate in them as much as possible and as appropriate. Anthropologists usually live in the community that they are studying, sometimes renting a house or a room in someone else’s dwelling. Fieldwork, then, is an ongoing, multifaceted research experience.

1. Choosing a Problem and Site Anthropologists begin by choosing a research problem and then the site in which to conduct their study. Most anthropologists have a long-standing interest in a particular country or community. For a complete study a year is recommended.

2. Doing Preliminary Research Before fieldwork trips, researchers gather as much information about their subject of study as they can. They read what other anthropologists have written about the topic, attempting to understand the data and theoretical approaches that others have used in analyzing the problem. They learn as much as possible about the country, the culture, the history, the conditions and significant current events. Learning the language is necessary too. Pre-contact with the group is useful to improve the chances of being accepted.

3. Arrival and Culture Shock In the field, researchers must immediately learn new customs, new faces, new foods, new languages, and ways of communicating. This learning is intense because, unlike tourists, anthropologists are immersing themselves in a new way of life in which they will participate. Often, the unstated rules of decorum and etiquette are most easily, and unknowingly, violated. Anthropologists need to be keenly observant, not only of other people’s activities but also to the way other people react. By being sensitive to other people’s reactions, anthropologists can learn much about attitudes, values and norms. Culture shock is a problem at first – the feeling of being out of place in unfamiliar surroundings, and the feeling of losing one’s cultural bearings.

Symptoms of culture shock: • Unwarranted criticism of the culture and people • Heightened irritability • Constant complaints about the climate • Continual offering of excuses for staying indoors • Utopian ideas concerning one's previous culture • Continuous concern about the purity of water and food • Fear of touching local people • Refusal to learn the language • Preoccupation about being robbed or cheated • Pressing desire to talk with people who "really make sense. “ • Preoccupation with returning home

Stages most people go through in adjusting to a new culture Fun: The excitement and adventure of experiencing new people, things, and opportunities. Flight: Disorientation brings the urge to avoid everything and everyone that is different. Fight: The temptation to judge people and things that are different as bad or foolish. Fit: Creative interaction with the new culture that includes a willingness to understand embrace.

4. Choosing a place to live Once on site, anthropologists need to find a place to live. Living in a household has the advantage of proximity to people through family networks and routine participation in household and community events. A disadvantage of living with a family, however, is that members of a household may try to ally themselves with the anthropologists, against the interests of others in the community. They may be perceived as rich and powerful or having high status among the people they study. The challenge is to establish good relations without allowing people to use a relationship to gain advantages or benefits.

5. Working in an unfamiliar language Anthropologists have to hire interpreters unless they are fluent in a language. Learning a field language is clearly necessary if the anthropologists truly want to learn the kinds of meanings people ascribe to their own behaviour. Working through translators is very different and many nuances and attitudes are lost in translation.