anth 1220 - week 3, doing fieldwork

Fieldwork

Ethnographic fieldwork is an unusual way of collecting data for both researchers and host societies

Fieldwork purpose

Allows people from different cultures to learn about one another

Ethical responsibility

Anthropologists have obligations to host societies

Length of fieldwork

Typically about one year, sometimes longer

Fieldwork definition

Extended close involvement with people to collect most anthropological data

Participant-observation

Living and working with people while participating in their daily lives

Preparing for fieldwork

Selecting a site and researching existing material

Research proposal

Formal plan defended before professors

Fieldwork logistics

Arranging travel, housing, and daily living

Institutional approval

Obtaining permits and visas, often time-consuming

Funding

Securing financial support for fieldwork

Ethics clearance

Formal approval to ensure ethical research

Fieldwork and informants

Fieldwork changes both anthropologists and informants

Impact on informants

Effects range from economic to existential and may persist

Research ethics

Avoid causing harm to participants

Informed consent

Participants must understand and agree to research

Anonymity

Protecting the identities of participants

Accessibility

Ensuring research is available and understandable

Culture shock

Fieldworkers experience anxiety and disorientation

Reverse culture shock

Difficulty readjusting after returning home

Armchair anthropology

Early anthropology conducted without fieldwork

Veranda anthropology

Limited observation without immersion

Origins of participant observation

Developed independently in the U.S. and England

Franz Boas

Conducted fieldwork among the Kwakiutl

Bronislaw Malinowski

Studied the Trobriand Islanders

Margaret Mead

Conducted fieldwork in American Samoa

Positivism

Belief in a single objective reality knowable through science

Objective knowledge

Knowledge considered universally true

Positivism in anthropology

Relied on controlled cross-cultural comparison

Controlled comparison

Systematic but often culturally insensitive

Positivist paradox

Research is not value-free when humans are both subjects and researchers

Anthropology as dialogue

New approach emphasizing interaction and exchange

Recognition of dissent

Acknowledging disagreement within cultures

Intersubjective data

Field data are shaped by shared interaction

Emic perspective

Insider view of a culture

Emic methods

Often gathered through participant observation

Ethnocentrism prevention

Emic perspective reduces cultural bias

Etic perspective

Outsider analytical view

Etic knowledge

Scientific and comparative

Shared etic views

Anthropologists communicate etic interpretations

Reflexivity

Critical self-reflection by the anthropologist

Reflexive turn

Increased focus on reflexivity since the 1970s

Situated knowledge

Knowledge shaped by the researcher’s identity

Field relationships

Researcher identity affects field interactions

Ethnographic authority

Early anthropologists assumed unquestioned authority

Scientific omniscience

Claimed complete understanding of studied cultures

Polyvocality

Including multiple voices in ethnography

Interpretation and translation

Building mutual understanding between researcher and informant

Intersubjective translation

Knowledge constructed through dialogue

Power imbalance

Anthropologist controls start and end of dialogue

Jean Briggs

Studied emotional expression among the Utku

Paul Rabinow

Gained respect by asserting himself in the field

Fieldwork techniques

Interviews and conversations

Life histories

Detailed personal narratives

Genealogical method

Mapping kinship relationships

Key informants

Individuals with specialized cultural knowledge

Field notes

Written observations recorded during fieldwork

Multi-sited fieldwork

Research following cultural processes across locations

Globalization research

Used to study transnational cultural phenomena

Multi-sited limitation

Reduces depth of individual relationships

Ethical limitation

Weakens responsibility to primary informants

Multi-sited benefit

Captures complexity of global connections

Effects on participants

Ethical obligation to do no harm

Effects on researcher

Culture shock, relationships, learning, career impact

Effects on humanity

Insights into human nature, society, and history