Chapter 3 - Fieldwork & Ethnography

Chapter 3 - Fieldwork & Ethnography What is ethnographic fieldwork? - Ethnographic fieldwork is unique strategy of anthropologists - Put people first as they analyze how human societies work - Field work shapes anthropologist - Sometimes they experience a culture shock & gives them a sense of disorientation - Changes overtime - Change is so strong sometimes that when they return their own home seems unfamiliar - Fieldwork can be anything - Fieldwork developed before anthropologists came to the scene - Explorers, missionaries, traders, government bureaucrats, & travelers recorded description of the people that they met & had a kind of communication sometimes - 2,500 years ago, Greek historian Herodotus wrote about Egypt, Persia, and Ukraine - Marco Polo traveled from Italy across Silk Route to China - Chinese admiral Zheng reported his trip to India, Middle East 19th Century Anthropology - The roots of anthropology & fieldwork are in globalization of late 19th century - Increase in movement in europe & collected lots of data for scientists & philosophers tried to make sense of diversity & humanity - Edward Burnett was considered an “armchair anthropologist” because he sat at home & analyzed reports of other people - Louis Henry Morgan conducted fieldwork on Native Americans - He believed in the theory of unilineal cultural evolution which is like stages that each group passes through - Also believed that cultures can be classified Important Anthropologists - Franz Boas (1858-1942) - Developed 4 field approach - Documented native american cultures called salvage ethnography - Bronislaw Malinowksi (1884-1942) - Considered father of fieldwork - He was polish but leading figure in british anthropology - During WWI he was stuck on Trobriand Islands & began anthropological studies there - Books Argonauts of Western Pacific 1922 - Became famous for examination of Kula Ring - Suggested participant observation which means you should not just watch but participate in their culture - E.E. Evans-Pritchard - A british social anthropologists researched Sudanese tribe over 11 months 1930&1936 - Book Nuer in 1940 - Focused on groups kinship, and political stuff - He was criticized for his failure to consider the historical context and larger social world - Nuer lived under British rule in Sudan & many Nuer were against British occupation - Margaret Mead - 1920s examined teens sexuality - Wrote Coming of Age in Samoa - She said whatever we say is based on US culture, we predict it should be like that - Her research found that US cultural norms were not found cross-culturally - Annette Weiner - 1980 found that Malinowski's Trobriand Islands lacked essential roles of women in the island economy, so she focused on that - She said his conclusions were not wrong, just incomplete - Barabara Myerhoff - Studied older jewish communities, and paid attention to self-reflection of herself as an anthropologist - Between 1920s & 1960s many british social anthropologists saw it as more of a science How do anthropologists get started for fieldwork? - First: Preparation - Reading & research called literature review - Provides crucial background for them to understand - Malinowski also recommends studying & learning language of those people - Second: contact other scholars who have been there - Community leaders, government, perhaps even host family Third: define specific research question or problem - Fourth: financial support - Fifth: visit the sight - Sixth: obtain any equipment to document - Computers, cameras, CD recorder, backpacks whatever - Strategies – anthropologists apply variety of research strategies for gathering quantitative (stats) and qualitative (cannot be counted, like interviews field notes, history) - Mapping - one of the first things anthropologists do after entering the site - Where are streets, houses, stores, religious buildings etc. - Skills & perspectives – successful fieldwork requires set of skills & perspectives, such as open-mindedness, patience, openness etc. - Boas cultural relativism says “Can we see the world through the eyes of those we are studying?” and “Can we understand their system & internal logic?” - Must be good listeners & what is and even what is not said (called zeros) - Anthropologists analyze themes, trends, issues, & patterns of data being collected - Eric Wolf though of culture as a mechanism for facilitation relationship of power among families, between genders, among religions, classes & political entities - Emic & Etic - Emic is understanding the local community on its own terms - Etic is viewing the local community from anthropologists perspective as an outside Writing Ethnography - Write articles, books, make movies & documentaries - Most popular are books & articles - Women & people of color write ethnography, challenging masculine & western POV - Anthropologists try to make ethnography more transparent so they can have other people from the community’s perspective Self-Reflection - They pay attention to how their own gender, sexuality, race, religion, age etc may impact their work - Ethnographic authority - what right does anthropologist have to present certain materials, make certain claims, and draw certain conclusions Ethical & Moral Concerns - (AAA) American Anthropology Association has developed guidelines - Do not harm → after WW2, people would say anthropologists were helping colonization unintentionally - Obtain permitted info → they need permission from subjects, and should know about the goal, process, & future use of info - Ensure anonymity Strategies Change in Response to Globalization - Changes in process – now you can stay in touch when project is over - Changes in content