Chapter 3: Ethnography and Anthro Practices

Why use ethnography?

Around for the better part of a century Proven to be an effective tool to help anthropologists gather info needed to understand social complexities and inner lives/beliefs of people

What is action anthropology? Who was advocating for it?

Sol Tax, 1950 research committed to making social change encouraged anthropologists to offer voluntary help to these disenfranchised communities by airing grievances and solving problems subjects are equal, yes insert own political values into research

What does Fabian suggest about anthropologists in the field?

The idea that they are collecting just objective data misses the point of the discipline the data collected isn't just there, it is created through relationships between anthropologist and people they interact with **iNTERSUBJECTIVITY FROM LECTURE: ANTHRO IS SUBJECTIVE Not objective, subjective Not invented, done a lot of work, rooted research in what others have observed Is it one person's subjective information about one way of life? Or are you writing about one view of other people? Final ethnography is an intersubjective product - made of relationships between individuals, conversation When you read it, you see interpretive perspective of people they live with, and you are able to interpret it yourself Came out of relationships, didn't buy this, entrusted to you

what are the unique ethical dilemmas ethnographers face?

protecting informant identity limits to first amendments (hello US textbook) Who gets access to field notes Spying and war Ie - do no harm, considerations about to whom anthropologists are responsible, questions about who should control anthropology's findings

How do anthropologists differ from journalists?

1. anthropologists stay in community and gather field data for a long time, most coming from participant observations. Journalists usually secondhand, don't stay on assignment for more than few days or weeks 2. no constitutional US protections to conceal informants or sources of data

How was the examination of life histories developed?

1920s, developed as part of fieldwork on IN reservations, bc the questions asked had to do with Am Indian societies before they were transformed by contact with white American society

What is required for establishing a rapport in a research community?

A lot of discipline Acceptance of local customs and practices - no matter how unfamiliar or uncomfortable

Describe the ethics of protecting informant identity

Anthropologists often learn about matters that informants would like to be confidential, and disclosure of this might = social isolation of informant, fighting in community, or criminal investigation need to conceal identities of everyone they have interviewed, and sometimes even content either use pseudonyms in published accounts, but could change details

Why is participant observation neither pure observation or participation?

As observers, anthropologists cannot remove themselves from actions Always participating doesn't allow them to see the subtle behaviours, and learning to intuitively understand significance

Steps to participant observation

As you gather data - how do you know if the data is accurate, there is anthropologists that have spend years in the field to learn a language, and they were deliberately taught wrong -> how do you know it is truthful? Triangulation - look at a practice in one context, then in another, if people interpret the thing in the same way, can record things in video, can record processes in video and discuss tha tyou can use it, discuss if the other practitioners use the same

Why is it hard to define how anthropologists do research?

Because they do research by creating close relationships with people over many years, can be hard to explain how to do that with culturally different people

What are the issues facing anthropologists studying their own societies?

Being an "other" heightens sensitivities to another society's culture, much more difficult if yo know language and have well formed views about behaviours and attitudes -> ways around this = studying social conflict bc their informal logic emerges clearly

What is an example of "seeing the world form a native's POV?"

Bourgois, in East Harlem Wasn't trying to condone crack using Had to suspend the judgement off that being bad to understand why they did it

What can you gain from participating in a community?

Can observe what is important to them What they discuss among themselves How these matters interconnect to social institutions Insights into behaviours, actions ideas that people may not notice or understand

What is ethnohistory?

Combines historical and ethnographic approaches Important to studying non-literate communities, where few written historical documents exist also intersted in how societies understand and reconnect to past Ie., difference between Western time and Mayan societies (linear vs cyclical) Study of how other societies construct histories Ie, future is forward for us, we look forward to the future, but others think that what you are looking at is the past, and what is behind you is the future History is cyclical to some, same stages again and again, not unilinear, ethnohistorians study how people make sense of history Oral history, prehistory, may not have written history Inuit elder that didn't want written word -> bc it was held against them Why study culture on your terms? Combinations of ethnography, history, archaeology

What are the other methods anthropologists use, other than participant observation and unstructured, open ended interviews?

Comparative method genealogical method life histories ethnohistory rapid appraisals action research anthropologists at a distance, analyzing secondary materials

what kinds of questions do anthropologists ask?

Depend on situation and info they are seeking! Can be drawn from theories and background lit, from advisor, or from curiosity questions that elicit yes or no unproductive Goal = GET PEOPLE TALKING, more they talk, more cultural logic is revealed

Describe your profs research

Done in Siberia Pic -> reindeer herder Vimeo Relationship of colonialism, cosmology and human-animal relationships Archival data collection Remote mtn region in Mongolia IN hunters and herders Shamanic ideas about landscape Better understanding of how waves of outside influence played on human-animal relationships, and how animal salience is viewed Ethnohistorical process Pressured people to abandon semi-domestic species, but local ideas of ecology in conflict in industrial demands Traditional behaviour of taming animals fallen away in a few generation Both the work it takes to regain ^^ and where it has been preserved Holistic approach Religious history of the area, shamanic culture, but christian missionaries never came into their territory, but buddhist missionary practice did come in Shamanism mixing with Buddhism -> how do these religious conversions influence way people relate to animals in a 100 year spans, do perceptions of human/animal salience (?) change Vimeo film excerpt Soiot peoples White yak = good sign People and domestic, household activities Soviet era believed in progress, attempted to bring tech to area, so there has been a more modern time in past than today

What did Phillipe Bourgois study?

East Harlem, NYC Cut off from mainstream America Residents Puerto Rican Isolated bc of lang/edu barriers, unemployment, poverty, ethnic segregation Spent 5 years studying how people experience marginalization and make a living in an economy that doesn't want them Research was dangerous - he created a trusting relationship between himself and crack cocaine dealers and users, learning about how they were excluded from mainstream jobs and kept having to fall back on cocaine dealings found official docs of wealth and poverty were inaccurate -didn't include this booming economy, and other social scientists also weren't helpful, bc they thought poor deserved it bc they were dealers Crackhouse owners run business like any other American businessman This look/trust showed him that the community still had American aspirations, despite mainstream opportunities being denied -> Goals and ideals, that none of us in the legal side can share Showed this was bogus, main reason for drug dealing = few economic outlets, even if you had the entrepreneurial personality Operate very much like other Americn businessman with the American dream, just in that sector - no quantitative research would give you that kind of info Qualitative = dirty work, potentially dangerous

What is intersubjectivity?

Fabian's suggestion that observations and understandings gained in the field aren't objective OR subjective, nut that they emerge out of relationships between individuals - inter subject!

Who should have access to field notes?

Field notes can be highly personal, so often if they are published they are heavily edited informants insist they should have access to field notes bc they created data and should benefit on one hand, yes, research should benefit community, but on other hand no, raw data turned over could benefit some and harm others

Describe the ethics in fieldwork (lecture example)

First issue of ethics: go to Starbucks with friends, you are having wonderful conversations, and pull your zipper and start writing something into that jotter, and then put it back -> it'll be weird Might be betraying own friendship, and not confident to ask and uneasy about what the person is writing Working in an Women Fisher Inuit community, and she found out that there was domestic abuse -> innocent people raped, should she talk about that? She would betray communities, as subject to great domestic violence in a negative light, but wants to fight for them, should she speak out? If she doesn't, these are real life that are hurt by fam members. Should she talk about witnessed events? Wants to stand up for these people, can you remain silent? Are you harming community? Psychologists today will show yo that domestic violence is there because of trauma, bc of colonial state Repercussions of Cdn state is atrocious With intimate knowledge comes great responsibility Witnessing illegal or unethical actions, protecting individuals (within or between communities) Keeping consultants anonymous and sometimes data undisclosed Field notes/data not constitutionally protected in US Consultants anonymous, certain data undisclosed Courts can call upon field notes and use them and their data, and could become public information -> then what? Cincel field notes vs transparence To protect infividuals, will conceal field notes (aside from excepts) But some communities demand full access to al field notes (collabotarion and co-ownership) In the latter case, data collectors must inform consultants about to whom the data is shared with (shapes quality of data) -> may not want to tell that other people Transparency Do you have liberty to see the notes being taken? I just want to know what made it into your notes? As you write field notes, need to be aware -> what if someone wants to read them? Tested - how honest can you be about what you are writin? Not writing secrets, learning about them.

What are some kinds of interviews?

Formal and highly structured -> used to elicit specific kinds of info (terms for bio species, village court case proceedings) Unstructured, casual conversations

Explain the nature of informal/open-ended interview

General focus for interview, not necessarily clear ideas of questions to ask/info they want New questions occur through interview More time in conversation then writing notes (although note taking may still occur)

What does rapid appraisal require?

General knowledge of both region and the topic under investigation Considerable field experience to begin with, so knows to focus on features that distinguish comm under study from similar ones

Describe field notes?

Go over jotting and mental notes Take 2-3 hours to chronologically (or thematically) organize and type up your observations Identify problems, contradictions, or new questions Prepare new themes to explore, form questions in jotter for next day Jotter = chronological piece with a marker to trigger memory you have built, and vomit out the memory as detailed as possible, realize there are contradictions, mark each gap and hole -> how do I fill it out? This is your data, that you will take back and work with, so it is essential to have this record Will also go back through field notes to see discrepancies, practices in 26 steps, but its actually inly 3 -> identify mistakes in observations, will heck against other sources, can't verify, re-experience similar situation, and compare and contrast First time, misunderstood, second clarified, third supported Starts to realize what matters to people, narrow down research questions Field notes are your data More detail, the better Include verbatim quotes from jottings If digital, insert vid, sound, photos (Evernote, Ethnographer), not often bc if you are off grid, or lose power bc of solar panel gone Field notes writing in presence of experts Ethical potentials: record sensitive people if people have consented, someone could intercept that data, and betrayed the people in the field How data is encrypted or if it is under lock and key is considered Asking in situ to an expert very helpful during field note writing, be near someone who is expert in the field

What is the Human Relations Area files?

HRAF is a database that collects and finely indexes ethnographical accounts of several hundred societies from all parts of the world -> paragraph subject indexed for wide variety of topics (kinship systems, trading practice, etc.), allows for conducting of statistical analyses

What are the elements of anthology fieldwork incorporates?

Holism Cultural relativism Ethical behaviour -> all in one frame of inquire

What did Laura Nader study?

How Am culture deals with minor injustices studies consumer complaint letters received by consumer rights activist Ralph Nader Saw people asserted basic values about fairness and accountability

How do you decide which community to enter?

How do you decide which community - or does the community decide? Alex -> you do an exploratory trip, visit people, find people who are interested, focus is on collaboration, wouldn't be coming w/specific questions Explain how you are trained and this is what I can do, can I help you with training? Have to respect them if they say no Research can be directed by industries/corporations, so the way you choose your field changes Qualitative practices Immersions and participation in the community

Explain the way anthropologists were used in the US Iraq/Afghanistan wars?

Human Terrain System placed non combatant social scientists with combat units to help officers gather info us military had little knowledge in these foreign cultures, and military success needed that But the AAA condemned this program, recognizing that anthropologists may help the state act against vulnerable groups by providing cultural insights to harm or disadvantage members of groups -> reveal public the oversimplified version of enemy seen in the media is a responsibility -> military use may undermine trust 2007-14, US govt hired antrho to assist troops in Iraq and Afghanistan AAA condemned this: no support of a state at cost of local community members Hired them to be upfront, with armed soldier, carry notebook, build rapport, and feed qualitative data to make better informed systems Supposed to built personal rapport, if they share you dirty secrets maybe you should too - personally invested, trust each other mutually Fellow fragile human

What happens in an open ended interview?

Informants discuss a topic, and in the process make connections with other issues Discuss things anthropologist wants to hear about, or that informants find meaningful

What occurs during fieldwork?

Involvement in daily lives Observations and questions about what they are doing and recording those answers/observations Long term = critical, generating important insights, since people may say one thing and then do something different, gives context to what they say Helps look at implicit assumptions and rules people live by Eg, Am thinking drug dealers have a different set of values, but Bourgois proving that suggest otherwise

What are the three types of anthropological notes?

Jottings: quick notes through action Field notes: in depth reflections, end of the day/focus time, can be clear differences depending on anthro Head notes: personal reflection and reflexive observations, look at yourself and how you change and react to different situations. Not objective data recording, just a reflexive exercise

Participant observation

Key element of anthropological fieldwork Systematic research strategy During this, recording of what happens during" hanging out" Building rapport and friendships in a community where they have no friends Process -> observes things in a field setting, observes them a second or third time, then inquires about them, then pulls together a grand sense of what they have observed LECTURE Core tool of social anthropologists At the end of a qualitative hanging out, you are exhausted - every minute and hour of the day, you are observing and trying to figure out what is significant, what you should be writing down, what they are interacting with, you don't know what will be important in years from now Significance of power outlets -> show that we have electricity, this outlet was made of metal and plastic, used also in the US, tells you something about Canadian values how we adopt and make use of things Accepting local customs, misjudged bc you don't know what is important, ie., eating order (NWt elders eat first, but in Siberia, kids eat first) When do people converse? What is your opportunity? Little pocket in day when people smoke on either a bench or entrance way, Talking about income -> can't compare, have to decide how transparent you will be

What is the central goal of ethnographic studies such as Bourgois?

Learn about people who live in cultural circumstances different from our own

Describe jottings. Why would you jot if there is potential privacy issues?

Little note books Want small ones to whip out whenever, and a pen that works in all weather Public vs discreet: letting people see you write, writing discretely, on the transparency of jotting sand field notes, how to build rapports with consultants Very complicated in intimate, personal encounters, to pull out a jotter -> highly problematic to take notes in potentially jeopardizing friendships to being jailed Which is more ethical: pulling it out and taking notes, or hiding away when nobody knows? Consent is key "can I record this?" Could be verbal consent, but what the person you are interviewing will say something else, and you will remember notes are being taken so will censor yourself That's why you show people you are a real person, and you depend on community to, not to trick people, people have the chance to say no, that is too sensitive Responsibility to remind people why you are there and what you are doing There are situations where taking notes in action is better, vs not -> situation by situation, try to make best effort w/interest of people who you work, maybe not record, or keep it anonymous/change parts of the story Writing discreetly: funerals, but to pull out jotter during it is not appropriate

What is fieldwork?

Long term immersion in a community Defining methodology of cultural anthropology

Explain the dichotomy between activist and a scholar?

Many anthropologists feel like they cannot just be a scholar, have a responsibility to those you are studying, those who are repressed How do you make sure data doesn't effect the people you work with? Others say I have a moral obligation to be an active ally 1927, anther and archaeologist BE Petri worked with Soiot, soviet state just taken over, shamans all shot, anyone affiliated with not Soviet Union were killed or taken to gulag, lived in Ilkutskan, saw how Soiots had been hurt, noticed that he was inclined towards Soiots (spoke Turkit lang.) and there was a fear of Pan-turkit revolution would occur, so he was accused as being a spy Archivists think his writing was burned, all of that info gone

Explain the transition from etic to emic?

May think that informants are paradoxical, unable to be understood Some time and effort to see things in a local context, the things people say and do begin to make sense, and you will feel lie you can see the world not from an etic perspective, but from an emic one

What are non-industrialized countries' goals for anthropologY?

National development needs - ie researching health conditions of rural and poor people Also activist stance - ie fighting for minority rights

Explain the characteristics of participant observation

No clear focus field notes mostly head and jot notes, later used for full description of context and content Notes include topics to follow up on in future

What are anthropologists trying to do when seeing the world "from a native's POV?"

Not claiming the other's way of thinking is better But it unravels cultural logic where actions that are unthinkable in our society become commonplace

Can you get over cultural tunnel vision?

Not completely - will still think their way of doing it is peculiar, maybe even wrong But with effort and time, we can see actions as less puzzling, come to accept reactions as making sense in terms of local culture

What does fieldwork use?

Not on a prescribed set of procedures/formulas, but on a toolkit of skills and techniques an anthropologist can draw on, depending on the context

Describe observation through triangulation?

Observe in multiple contexts interviews, observations, all multiple observations Every shred written, no rock uncovered in that question, and after the expertise, to have something else to compare to - had everyone Go into archives, ethnohistorical, read newspapers published on questions, How do you know I am telling the truth - I don't know, I trust you aren't lying, but I've done a lot of reading and looked at historical record, and I can tell whether your account is congruent with everything else I have looked at

What are IN goals for anthropology?

Often conduct research to speak not about, but for their societies Eg Pan Maya ethnic movement in Guatemala, led by linguitts who have studied anthropology theory and methods, to assert research agenda and methods relevant to Maya social interactions

What are the three skills/techniques that are central to creating cultural data and knowledge?

Participant observation Interviews Note-taking

Explain the nature of interview schedule?

Questions read form a printed script drafted before Used for survey data collection

What are headnotes?

Reflections on your own becoming Observe own state of being at time: later helps you makes sense of why you observed what you did Field notes can be skewed by personal experience -> if you can keep track of own explanations that's good Later compare dates, Jan 6, was sick, observed a b c felt intimidated - connection The three column system of field note writing (jottings, notes, headnotes), doesn't ignore personal reflections

What is action research?

Research directed at changing social conditions 1950s and on Participatory action research: community members as directing co researchers ^^ how qualitative research should be done, in NWT or Arctic, have to abide by IRB, which has this as mandatory Co-design research with community members, any data is shared with community, and they are owners of data, and can destroy if they thought it was counter productive Ie., Healthy Foods North study (2011 -2012) Data collector = Alex Gathered data on food consump. In recently settled Inuit community in the Arctic, Alaska, then events Hawaii Can't establish serious rapport with people over 2 weeks, not enough

Explain the characteristics of informal/open ended interview

Sometimes a clear focus field notes could be preliminary notes to outline discussion, later used to write up a full description of context and content of discussion

What did Palo Underhill do?

Studied Am shopping mall and advising retail businesses on how to use space to sell products to American consumer -> mall = socially patterned experience -> outside in parking lot, everything is featureless and minimal, so no outside attraction has people flowing in -> once entered, people slow to adjust to space, so no shops are there, accounting firms and other appointment places are put there -> decompression area, go to Mall proper -> extra wide halls encourage movement and to allow merchandise to spill out -> what behaviours encouraged, or discouraged

What is the comparative method?

Systematic comparison of data from two or more societies Ie., Lewis Henry Morgan sending letters to people internationally, asking for lists of kinship terms around the world -> publishing Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of Human Family -> early anthropology used it to establish models of how European cultures developed from primates -> modern use = multi-sited ethnography, so participated observation research in different social settings Ethnology, different themes across cultures, takes things out of context, unanthropological

What is an important criticism of social scientific research?

That it may benefit researcher more than participants -> publication may advance their career more than it improves conditions of studied peoples -> esp. important in disenfranchised societies

Explain cultural tunnel vision?

The idea that we have unquestioned implicit meanings and perspective from our own culture that doesn't allow us to see and think in terms of another culture's implicit meanings/persepctive = ethnocentrism LECTURE Life path, build biography -> one chapter leads to another (pre school, primary, hs, university) had relationships -> gf, bf, parents, friends, stories told by grandparents, immigrated etc. Shaped who you are today Formed convictions with what is right vs wrong -> this kind of stuff makes up who you are How can you make assumptions about ___, if you haven't experienced it like that, how can you say it doesn't exist? That is arrogant. What if the people do not respect your own convictions? You could be a vegan or veggie, but the field site is a factory where animals are butchered, but you have a conviction not to take animal's lives -> Alex's fieldwork works with people who are meat eaters, who would eat veggies if there is fresh meat Transition -> ideological subscription, not disgusted by meat, what do you do? Two options - can say no I won't eat it, you can eat it butttttt -> you are not there to convert them. There to learn from them, see their side of the coin, what is the meaning of taking life, eating meat, how is that rationalized. Will get different data, may not be invited to same rituals etc. disclose to readership Alex, with hunters, does drop his ideology and eats meat Suspenseful, you will return to community and be held accountable for what you have done during research, if you are vegan and you have taken an animals life, may lose friends

Why would you do fieldwork for so long?

This began in 1914, led to new kinds of understandings of native peoples Does not guarantee cultural relativism, nor that observer can get over ethnocentrism/cultural bias, but inc. likelihood that anthropologist could get sense of world in terms local people understood

What are informants?

Traditional term for people whom anthropologist gets info from -> seems to only describe on kind of relationship anthropologist has in community, so collaborators (shared enterprise), interlocutor (ongoing convo) and consultants (advice shared by experts) are often used too

What is delegated data collection?

Trying to get data were you cannot go Photo voice: street kids in Ukraine, with these kids can only work at night, lived in sewers underground, entered certain areas and hunted down by organ mafia, disposable cameras, handed them out to kids, and documented own lives, some allowed to share Restricted zone: not allowed in Buriatia -> afraid the extraction of precious metals will be told, herders can get in there, bought digital camera, took photos and videos, brought it back, and allowed to use photographs Questionnaires work in contexts where you cannot be present, delegate research Re-establish reindeer family trees, questionannaire shows sense of sentience and how people change -> nicknames for animal Historical account for an individual reindeer life, can be used in conjunctions with other reindeers

How do you analyze field notes?

Upon returning home: Read through field notes Developing themes (coding) Indexing codes (by colour and keyword) Index spans all media Using word processor or qualitative analysis software (NVivo) Can import all coded vid files, voice and sound recordings, text notes, create visual arrays of accumulation and how certain themes speak to each other Vivo can accomplish visual combinations you may not have noticed, emphasis on your data analysis Two or three may be sufficient, anything beyond = too much

What is participatory action research?

Varient of action research methods -> promotes community members making the research questions, collecting the data, analyzing the data based on idea that marginalized people should do their own investigation and planning encourages a sharing of research methods so people can act to improve political/social/economic conditions

How have anthropologists used skills to serve countries?

WWII assist with war effort -> Ruth Benedict studying Japanese culture from interviews with Jap people in US -> Sir Edmund Leach in Burma -> E E Evans Pritchard using knowledge of Sudan to mobilize war effort against Germany -> David Price, explored Am anthropologist Gregory Bateson's wartime work with the OSS (CIA predecessor) - influenced tribal peoples to side with allies

What do you write in a jotter?

What do you write? Screws -> is the way you look, the computers we use, the smell, the atmosphere, could record in the room for two weeks to record absolutely anything your senses feel Walking down street in Scotland, sat in a small town, and Scotland would buy licence for 600-1000 to pull salmon from the river, sat in the lobby, order coffee, and put a high fidelity sound recorder and sit in utter silence for an hour, and listen to whatever data recorded, and would write what we could pick up Listened to sound cloud, and from 15 min there was so much info Kitchen at end of corridor which had clanging and clinging, and could hear snippets of cook convos, creaking from the ceiling, shuffling, ran out of paper Showed that where there is life, there is data - no place on earth where there is nothing to record That Scottish place data was without visual data, tactile data, olfactory data! Cannot record everything, make decisions through jotter Names, dates, contacts Someone mentions something in convo, might be worthy to research, who is that and why significant, what dates is this happening? How do you find people who know answers to your questions? Verbatim quotes Write down what you think is significant, in verbatim, maybe annotations to how it was said Directions, ideas , new themes Physical directions or mentions of locations Encounter new ideas -> how does this play in to equations? Write down in situ, may forget or misconstrue Emerging questions

Who developed the genealogical record?

William HR Rivers -> cambridge anthropology expedition to the Torres Strait islands, which lie between Aus and New Guinea -> studying vis perception among Islanders, had high mild colour blindness -> tried to discern relationships between islanders to see if it was genealogical or generalized -> hard bc islanders used mother/father etc. words for greater amounts of people -> used a systematic classification of all kin according to relationship to informants 9MBD = mother's brother's daughter) -> method widely used during past century, key tool for understanding relationships in post-industrial societies LECTURE Tracing kinship, regardless of kin terms for bio studies ie, uncle is super important and more akin to father than the bio Russia = brothers/sisters for cousin, telling you about their "sisters" and it is their cousins, Not by your own terms, but how they relate Reestablish how everyone relates to each other, and there are two factions that are divided by a creek - Alex's research

what are field notes?

Written records of information anthropologist collects usually in nondescript notebooks, written during the ebb and flow of life, or when a big activity is happening With time and a lot of explanation about where it is going, people get used to you whipping out a notebook Remember, ethical commitment to tell people the reason for doing research openly! everyday, details are written up about what they did, whom they spoke with, anything odd, and context of it all

What is distinct about ethnographic fieldwork, vs other social research?

although social sciences also collect info about people, their methods are either quantitative (Statistical) or qualitative (descriptive and interpretive) Anthropologists mostly use quantitative data, cultural anthropology is most qualitative Emphasis on holism - looking at all aspects of a social life, not just specific parts like economy, politics, or psych -> Don't make any presumptions in terms of relationships in social institutions Could say there is a relationship between sociality and economy You do immediately make assumptions when you first meet someone: goal is to go somewhere with 0 assumptions, connections you have to observe for a long time and may be contrary to what. You assumed Deliberately don't know anything Long term immersion and participation in the community Open mind, cannot have preconceived ideas about relationships among social, economic, political and religious institutions

How did Margaret Mead keep confidentiality?

changed details about characteristics of adolescent girls so nobody, even small community could identify the girls

Explain the characteristics of formal/structured interview

clear focus for the interview transcript of answers or of qs and answers

What do life histories show?

important aspects of social life whether or not society has changed dramatically as people develop, they take on different societal roles by recording life histories, can build an image of how age influences role in community and how typical social roles unfold over time To understand changing roles throughout the lifetime Unique for animals, mostly done for people whose roles in life change Look at the life trajectory of individuals and how they were accepted by circumstances If we don't do this, won't know how people lived through social institutions that disappeared throughout their life -> what tech has meant now, and why people of a certain age interacts with media in a different way

Explain the nature of formal/structured interview?

important questions to ask decided ahead of time informants answers recorded in some way (writing, recording) Also often used for survey data collection

Why are field notes essential?

later, after being in the field for a year, you get back home, organize and analyze field notes, think about what you want to write, think about it again, and then write it. that may take years, so your memory wouldn't be sufficient

What are secondary materials used in the field?

media clippings govt reports scientific studies institutional memos and correspondence newsletters -> prove another level of context for interviews -> MUST CRITICALLY READ, PAY ATTENTION TO WHO WROTE THEM, AND MOTIVATIONS OF AUTHOR

What ar headnotes?

mental notes made in the field

How is anthropology not spying?

obligated to tell informants that they are researchers responsibility then, is primary to the informants, not govt agencies or military Field notes similar to how spies work = clear about identity as researchers Doubt for good reason: have a past of double roles What would you do if info could save innocent lives?

Explain the nature of conversation

ordinary conversation no notebooks Certain questions may be asked, but convo is natural jot notes taken after talk to remember topics Privately writes up more detailed raw notes for later fleshing out

Professional stranger

positive, should aspire to stranger, shouldn't become too close of a friend with the people you work with -> danger of "going native," idea of losing outsiders perspective, and not having anything to compare to it - fresh eyes looking at it, if you are intimately familiar, may overlook them If you keep that distance, you can switch perspectives - if you make your life entirely with whom you study, can you do this? How honest should or could you be with people you work? Will you show them that you are a fellow human being? Maybe if they found out who you are, won't respect you, maybe you want to keep it professional, found it necessarily to be clear and transparent. In Russia, you are a political spy if you are working there -> not just state, everyday people will too, enemies, trying to destroy system If someone comes in and is looking at every detail, what do they want? Difficult to build a relationship with someone suspicious Children played with the other children, even though they didn't speak their language -> just a normal human being who gets sick, hurt, who needs to eat, and gets to see people in every shape of sphere of life, just as they see you

What is rapid appraisal?

researcher drops in for a few weeks to collect data -> sometimes, applied anthropology studies require answers to research questions within a month or two Often applied anthropology Quickly assess places on the ground Already an expert on the place 2 weeks - 2 months In depth research in that short of a time Could be life saving and benefit, but should be careful Alex did one, see Healthy Foods

What do these techniques do?

see the world from POV of people who are subjects of research Not every ethnographer will experience and record same things, even in same community very unique and individual experience - different backgrounds, personalities, social identities, theoretical inclination and perception that affect observations and how people react to them, and how itnerpretations occur

Explain the characteristics of conversation

sometimes a clear focus field notes more head notes/jot notes, later used for full description of context and content Notes include topics to follow up on in future

Explain the nature of hanging out/participant observation

spending time with members of culture in age and gender appropriate ways may occasionally make hot notes, most record details in notes later, when people aren't around

What are interviews

systematic convos with informants, to collect systematic evidence for the perceptions form participant-observations LECTURE Do use them, but emphasis is on participant observation What if you can't participate - court room, situations where you are not in, ask specialist to tell you what happens Social anthropologists emphasize observations, and use interviews to make sure you are right semi-formal, list of questions you try to work towards, have to show research questions, board has to certify these are okay to ask Informal interviews - can be extremely informative, gained much from both Shamans - have sensitive info that may not be wanted to be passed on Good memory - techniques to listen to interviews, and each part of building houses aspect of response - mnemonic Nature of how an interview works also differs Might have a burning question and only have so much time How often do you do ___ May not get the actual answer, disrespectful to ask a straight question - why would anyone give me info about what I think is important** Trying to teach him to ask right question, invite into different view of the place, cannot be a straight answer to a straight question, don't take anything for granted, learn how to ask question Diary of reindeer herders -> didn't want to interrupt him, so asked during smoking break, can interview What if people won't speak - believes landscape hears their thoughts, if you think about the bear, the bear is offended, terms to refer to bear without it realizing. Many hunters prefer not to speak, much more can be learned through observation, what they do, how weather will change, whole worlds speaks without words

Explain the characteristics of the interview schedule

there is a clear focus for the interview field notes are the interview schedule form

What is "going native"

too much participation, where you don't engage in observation and become a member of community

What are two different reactions (ie say something and a new situation makes them do an unexpected thing)?

triggered by different conditions or contexts IE., political scandal has politicians criticizing the opposition but not make a fuss when they are part of said scandal Moral outrage situational

What is anthropology at a distance?

when anthropologists cannot make it physically to the field at all, may conduct interviews with people from community who live elsewhere Eg. -> Ruth Benedict;s research on Tap society and culture during WWII. Ofc, Benedict couldn't visit Japan, so instead read the lit and interviewed Japanes living in US