Fieldwork and Ethnography
Fieldwork
living with people for an extended time to
gather data using a variety of field techniques
for collecting that data
fieldwork & field techniques developed in the
study of smaller scale societies with greater
cultural uniformity compared to large-scale
industrial societies

the concept of holism
Before Fieldwork
schooling & training
language acquisition (at school & in
the field)
research proposal
visa, government bureaucracies &
permissions to do fieldwork
changing nature of the rules of
fieldwork
Field Equipment
Medicine, money, and… as field
equipment
Entering the Field
expats (missionaries, other anthros,
international development people)
tourists
going “native” types
exceptional locals
culture shock

refuge from the “natives”
Whose natives?
Field Techniques: The
Ethnographic Method
participant-observation - defining
characteristic of cultural anthropology &
its methods of research
first-hand observation of daily behavior;
immersed in daily life

no other human science does this
what people say & what they do
(Kottak), "The common humanity of
the student and the studied, the
ethnographer and the researched
community, makes participant
observation inevitable."
(Malinowski), “…, in this type of work, it is
good for the ethnographer sometimes to
put aside camera, note book and pencil,
and to join in himself in what is going on."
Surveys & Interviews
2 techniques of asking questions &
eliciting responses
quantitative vs. qualitative methods
enumerated/statistical
 descriptive/ interpretive

Surveys
structured closed-ended questionnaires
genealogical method/genealogies
statistical analysis
objectivity

who administers
Interviews
structured open-ended
unstructured
spontaneous & planned
Ethnographic vs. Survey Research
study whole functioning community
vs. a sample
develop rapport
totality of an informant's life-context
context & thick description
adds depth to survey data (i.e.
kinship genealogies)
Life History
recollections of lifetime experiences
identify important life turns for a culture
indicates the diversity of experience
within what appears to be a society of
cultural uniformity
problem with remembering in the present
Notions of narrative and history
Informants
Informants
what is a "well informed informant"?

compared to who?
the relationships between
ethnographer & informant

relations of power
trust, friendship, economic contract,
learning, adopted as family member,
prestige for both
Anthropology in pairs and such…
TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
Emic – local knowledge: how people
think, perceive, categorize the world;
what has meaning in their world-the
natives point of view
Etic -- shift focus from the native's point
of view to that of the anthropologist
Reflexivity
Type of knowledge – intersubjective
A self consciousness about the impact on the
data produced in the context of doing
fieldwork and writing culture
how the anthropologist effects the
thoughts, actions of informants
how the ethnocentrism of the anthro
colors the interpretation and final
representation of others thinking &
actions
Paul Rabinow on Reflexive
Knowledge
Field data are constructs of the process by
which we acquire them -- intersubjective
The problem is a “hermeneutical one”

hermeneutic – interpretation ... “as the
comprehension of self by the detour of the
comprehension of the other”
Fieldwork is dialectic

DIALECTIC BECAUSE NEITHER THE SUBJECT
NOR THE OBJECT REMAIN STATIC
Ali & Rabinow
“highlighting, identification, and analysis also
disturbed Ali’s usual patterns of experience.
forced to reflect on his own activities and
objectify them [as an informant].
began to develop an art of presenting his
world to me
But the more we engaged in such activity, the
more he experienced aspects of his own life
in new ways.”
Reflexive Knowledge and
Doing Anthropology as
Negotiated Reality
a mutually constructed ground of
experience and understanding
an acknowledgement of the dialogue
between the anthropologist and the
informant in the experience of
fieldwork
Negotiated Reality
anthropologists are historically situated
through the questions we ask and the manner
we seek to understand and experience the
world
anthropologists receive from our informants
their interpretations that are also mediated by
culture and history
the data is doubly mediated


first by presence of the anthropologist
Then by a second order self-reflection of our
informants
fieldwork is an experience in
humanity
a
kind of social relationship
 risky business
Anthropology and the Ethics of
Fieldwork
Anthropological researchers, teachers and
practitioners are members of many different
communities, each with its own moral rules or
codes of ethics
In both proposing and carrying out research,
anthropological researchers must be open
about the purpose(s), potential impacts, and
source(s) of support for research projects
with funders, colleagues, persons studied or
providing information, and with relevant
parties affected by the research.
Ethics and Informant
Relationships
Anthropological researchers have
primary ethical obligations to the
people, species, and materials they
study and to the people with whom they
work
avoid harm or wrong
 respect the well-being
 consult actively with the affected
individuals or group(s)

Fieldwork and Informed
Consent
Anthropological researchers should
obtain in advance the informed consent
of persons being studied, providing
information, owning or controlling
access to material being studied, or
otherwise identified as having interests
which might be impacted by the
research
Ethics Beyond the Field
Responsibility to scholarship and
science
Responsibility to the public
Responsibility to students and trainees
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