Comments on doing fieldwork
“field workers are neither completely born nor completely made; instead, they are always becoming” (Junker 1960, p.157)
Introduction
- It’s not proper fieldwork, unless you become ill [i.e. “you need to get a disease to be a serious anthropologist”]
- Learning a foreign language – communication vs. theory of language [the Golden Lions of the Presidential Palace]
- Three responses to “Global Prosperity Initiative”
Being Invisible
- Jane Goodall and the Chimpanzees
- Wearing an Adam Smith tie in an interview about laissez-faire
- “Being a Westerner” (note, not an American!)
Fieldwork
- Formal interview
- Informal conversation
- Direct/indirect observation
Local Knowledge vs. Standing Outside the Frame
- Hayek: knowledge is dispersed
- “You can’t see the picture, if you’re standing inside the frame” RS Trapp
- How to assemble knowledge of time and place?
- Equip yourself with a hunch, and a broader framework
- Note: not a theory that predetermines all your evidence
- Arrive knowing nothing of cultural context
- See what strikes you
- Learn culture from locals
- Do the history books dictate the local behaviour? No! Local culture dictates what goes into the history books. Culture is the lead variable
- Go out with the locals, learn from them
- Then fill in the gaps, and corroborate, via historical record
- Your hunch will probably be wrong, the fieldwork rests on your ability to ground it within a strong framework
These are notes for a talk that I gave on doing fieldwork. If you are interested in this topic send me an email!
Recommended book:
- Junker, B.H., 1960, Field work: an introduction to the social sciences, University of Chicago Press