Anthropology and its
Methods: Fieldwork
Key Concepts: Fieldwork, ParticipantObservation, Ethnography, Dispute
Resolution, Gift-giving, Culture Shock,
Ethics, Qualitative and Quantitative
Reseach
Anthropology and ParticipantObservation
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To understand what anthropology is, look to what
anthropologists do.
What anthropologists do is write ethnographies, i.e.
detailed, holistic accounts of the people they study.
The major method they use is participant-observation, i.e.
a long period (no less than 1 year) of living with and
studying a community.
The goal is to describe a community ‘from the point-ofview of the people being studied.
Fieldwork involves also at least a partial socialization into
the values and beliefs of the community being studied.
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Some anthropologists never return.
This period of socialization also enables the anthropologist to
at least partially overcome some of her/his own cultural
biases.
Some Characteristics of ParticipantObservation
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Involves initial language training, as ethnographers must
interact with people without the use of translators.
It also involves training in methods and concepts related to
the ethnographer’s specific topic, e.g. ethnobotany.
Initially it must include also the location of a community
and permission from host governments and the community
itself.
It is considered to be a cultural immersion.
It depends for its success on winning the trust of the people
being studied.
It relies more on gathering qualitative, rather than
quantitative information.
Its major tool is dialogue, whether through structured
interviews, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, or
casual conversation.
Example 1: A Dispute in Duo Donggo
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Peter Just did his research among the Duo Donggo, an ethnic
group numbering about 20,000 in the highlands of Sumbawa, the
second major island east of Bali in the Indonesian archipelago, in
the early 1980s.
One of his friend’s relatives burst into the room, shouting that his sister in
law, Ina Mone had been assaulted by a young man, la Ninde.
Ama Tife, one of the principal elders of the village assured us that he and
other elders would convene a court and exact justice according to tradition.
The next morning, La Ninde was brought before a group of elders with
most of the village looking on.
Ina Mone showed her medicated face and torn shirt as evidence.
La Ninde admitted to having shouted at her, but denied having physically
assaulted her.
Under pressure from members of the community, he later confessed.
Punishment: assessed a minor fine and had to ask Ina Mone for
fogiveness.
Later, a number of people stated that they did not believe that La Ninded
was guilty of having assaulted Ina Mone. ‘What La Ninde was convicted of
was more true than what really happened.’
Interpretation of the Dispute
Resolution
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later conversations, Peter learned that the dispute was
really about the fidelity of fiancees.
 Ina Mone and others had seen la Ninde flirting with la Fia, a young
woman betrothed to a man absent from the village.
Ina Mone had complained because her daughter was betrothed to a
son of ama Panci, whose second son was betrothed to la Fia. In
retalitation, la Ninded had verablly assaulted Ina Mone.
Question of individual guilt was not paramount in the elder’s minds.
Rather it was about restoring respect for the institution of betrothal
and the elders, as well as restoring peace in the community.
The interpretation of the dispute and its resolution also involves an
implicit comparison with our own legal system, which is much more
concerned with assessing *individual* guilt for a specific offence, and
not about restoring respect and harmony, at least not explicitly.
How would other social sciences
approach this dispute?
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First, since sociology and history depend
largely upon written accounts, this dispute and
its meaning would probably be invisible.
Even oral historians would probably not pick it
up, since they interview people AFTER events
have occurred, and among the Duo Dongoo,
cases settled are not to be discussed.
Quantitative methods depend mainly upon
written records or accounts found in censuses
and court records. Hence, the ‘local’ point of
view often gets lost.
Example #2: Richard Lee’s gift of a
Christmas ox to the !Kung
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During the end of Lee’s first fieldwork among the !Kung, a group of foragers in the
Kalahari Desert of Botswana, he tried to reciprocate for the hospitality he had
received over the previous year by purchasing and giving them an ox for feasting.
Despite the health of the ox he bought, he was constantly insulted over the weeks
before it was slaughtered that it was ‘too thin’, ‘had little meat’, was ‘a poor
specimen that would feed almost no-one’, etc.
Indeed, when it was finally slaughtered and distributed, it fed several families for
several days.
A little hurt, Lee inquired of his friends what was the *meaning* of the insults.
He was told that the !Kung always insult someone who has had a very good hunt.
The reason was that the !Kung tried to cool the pride of individual hunters who did
very well. This was because the !Kung had a strong ethic of reciprocity, or of
sharing amongst relatives. If a man became too proud, he could believe he was
self-sufficient, and cause social problems for the group, e.g. by refusing to share his
catch.
Hence, Lee had an ‘aha’ moment, in which he learnt how a pattern of insults was
related to !Kung economy and hunting activities.
Many anthropoogists have ‘aha’ moments like these, when a distinct pattern of
behaviour is shown to relate to an entire set of values and institutions. Many
anthropologists are told that the time to leave fieldwork is when everything makes
so much sense that it becomes not only understood, but expected.
Other Methods in Anthropology
In the ‘classic’ period between 1900 and c. 1980, anthropologists typically
focused on small-scale societies. Hence, participant-observation alone
could provide fairly comprehensive information.
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Anthropologists increasingly study ‘complex’ societies, including their own.
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Hence, anthropologists now use a variety of methods, quantitative as well
as qualitative and have access and use written records, such as census
material, archival data, court records, etc.
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For example, after arriving in a community, I usually administer a
questionnaire that relates to basic sociological information about the
people living in that area or community. This is followed up by structured
and semi-structured interviews with people who seem to be interested in
the project. I also use census material, archival material and maps. I also
initially draw up a map of the community, locating individuals and
institutions. In India, I often collect kinship information and draw up a
genealogy of each family. Focus groups are also important on specific
issues. However, participant-observation often provides me with the best
material.
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Other techniques that anthropologists use include audio recordings of
speech and music, photography, film, drawing, genaologies, mapping and
census-taking, collecting material culture or botanical or other natural
samples.
Ethics in Fieldwork
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First goal is ensure that the research does not harm the people who are
being studied and written about.
 For example, John did not mention the presence of a military garrison
in a Guatemalan village that he studied in the early ’80s, and later he
was criticized by a geographer for this omission.
 However, to have mentioned it would have made the location of the
village quite obvious during a period in which Guatemala was
experiencing a civil war.
 Anthropologists try as much as possible to use anonymity, i.e. but
changing names of people and places.
Ethical standards in fieldwork have increased since the 1980s.
 Due to some ethical scandals, the most famous being the Camelot
project, in which anthropologists studying a Cambodian (Kampuchean)
village unwittingly took money from the CIA. This was during the
Vietnam war.
 Because anthropologists have traditionally worked with peoples who
are most vulnerable to colonialism, displacement by development, or
genocide, some become advocacy anthropologists.
Danger: Culture Shock
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Many anthropologists find that their return
to their home country produces more
culture shock than going there.
Some do not return, but remain in their
fieldwork communities.
My own example: privacy and individualism
in North America, lack of ‘privacy’ and the
social connectedness of life in a north
Indian village.
Critiques of Classic Ethnography, New
Directions
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Starting in the 1970s, there were increasing
criticisms both within and without anthropology
that it was not ‘objective’, since each
anthropologist is enculturated into her/his own
society.
Led to the recognition that there could be no
100% objective or complete description of a
culture.
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Social life is too complex to capture it completely.
Since cultural values are often unconscious, it is
impossible to eradicate them completely.
Ethnography is a cultural ‘dialogue’ between
ourselves and others and a translation from one to
the other. Always involves a comparative aspect.
New Ethnographic Practises
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Recognition of the dialogic aspect through including individual subjects’ voices, e.g.
Nisa, The Story of a !Kung Woman.
Inclusion of conflicting voices and viewpoints to show that cultural values are not
uniform.
Inclusion of the biography of the anthropologist to show the reader the background
and goals of the study.
Direct conversations are included to show how the anthropologist arrived at her/his
information.
Reflections on western and ‘other’ viewpoints are often part of the text, e.g. In the
Realm of the Diamond Queen.
Ethnographies are no longer written in the passive, 3rd pronoun voice.
Encouragement of minorities to become anthropologists.
More anthropologists studying ‘at home’. Special challenges.
Recognition that ethnography is really a process of translation. Just as there is
never a 100% perfect translation, so there cannot be a 100% perfect ethnographic
description.
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However, I believe that participant-observation still provides the deepest way in which a
more accurate cultural translation can occur.