Anthropology and Cultural Studies

Rapport and Building Relationships

  • Rapport is about building relationships and trust with people you may not know.
  • Identify key individuals in the community:
    • Gatekeepers
    • People with power
    • People with connections
    • People with stories

Potential Problems and Suspicion

  • Anthropologists may be viewed with suspicion by locals.
  • Locals might question the motives of outsiders.
  • Concerns may arise about whether the anthropologist is:
    • Gathering stories
    • Spying for a government or other groups
  • People might assign false roles or motives to the anthropologist.

Gift Giving and Exchange

  • Gift-giving is important for building relationships.
  • Understand local customs for exchanging gifts.
  • Example: An anthropologist declining a gift from a Japanese family was not well-received because of the cultural significance of gift-giving in that context.
  • Consider cultural norms for presenting and receiving gifts.
  • Extra credit opportunity: Share an example of gift-giving culture in your community via email by Friday of week two.

Participatory Observation

  • Involvement in community activities:
    • Reconstruction project: Repairing water pipes damaged by a typhoon.
    • Carrying PVC pipes for miles, a physically demanding task.
    • Learning experience: Adapting to the physical demands of the environment.
    • Healing practices with local shamans, including observing animal sacrifice.
    • Working on farms harvesting various crops.
    • Assisting elderly people at the community center.

Local Knowledge and Perspectives

  • Example: The "Human Face Mountain" (Selassa) known locally but not on official maps.
    • Local knowledge of plants for medicinal purposes (e.g., wild guava leaves for diarrhea).
    • Unique place names known only to locals.
    • Experiences in tropical forests contrasted with subtropical upbringing.

Toponymy

  • Toponymy: The study of place names as part of local cultures.
  • Bunong people's knowledge of place names and associated resources.
  • Inuit communities' knowledge of weather conditions and travel routes.
  • The name of the Bunong village: named after a person who was headhunted.
  • Mount McKinley/Denali: Example of renaming to commemorate local native populations; a political issue.

Fieldwork Challenges and Experiences

  • Personal experience: Waking up early to harvest bamboo shoots despite mosquito bites and fear of spiders.

Research Approaches

  • Multi-Sited Research:
    • Following people across different locations (e.g., migrant workers between the United States and their home countries).
  • Rapid Research Methods:
    • Quick data collection for immediate needs (e.g., market research for product development, disaster relief efforts).