ANTH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Language Acquisition, Intersubjectivity, Premarital Sex
What is so distinctive about anthropological fieldwork?
Misunderstanding about what anthropologists in the field actually do
-
Cultural anthropologists do research by building personal relationships
over a period of time
Difficult process to prepare for in advanced
○
Impossible to anticipate every challenge
○
Must learn to expect the unexpected or at least be flexible enough
to adapt to unexpected circumstances
○
-
Distinctive methodological tools of cultural anthropology help maintain
flexibility and make field research possible
-
Anthropological fieldwork
The defining methodology of cultural anthropology
Its extended period of close involvement with the people who the
anthropologists is interested
○
Goal of fieldwork is to collect information or data
○
-
Allows insight that would not be possible with short visits, surveys, or
brief interviews
-
Can yield an understanding of culture and behavior that people
themselves might no even be aware of
-
Ethnography is the description of the customary social behaviors of an
identifiable group of people
Written or filmed
○
-
Ethnology comparative study of two or more cultures
-
Type of Data that is Collected
Qualitative data
Word based descriptions "quality"
○
Includes field notes
○
Searching for themes or patterns
○
Goal is to produce an in-depth and detailed description of social
activities and beliefs
○
Closely linked to participant observation and ethnography
○
-
Quantitative data
Numeric presentation "quantity"
○
Usually involves statistics and specialized software
○
Statistics help the researcher to see what quantifiable aspects of a
culture are significant or insignificant
Incomes
§
Family size
§
Economics
§
Timed tasks
§
○
-
Preparing for Fieldwork
Selecting a topic
Literature review
○
Notable events
○
Particular item or commodify
○
Restudy
○
-
Usually have specific questions in mind based on their theoretical
backgrounds and research focus
Frequently change
○
Insightful cultural questions should get people talking
○
More talk, more rapport means more information about the
cultural logic of their everyday lives
○
-
Obtain funding
-
Obtain permission and ethic review
Ethical review in Canada
○
Informed consent
Aspects of research ethics requiring that he researcher
inform the research participants of the intent, scope, and
possible effects of the study and seek their agreement to be
in the study
§
○
-
Travel and accommodation
Visas
○
Health preparations
○
Specialized equipment
○
Research equipment such as recording devices
○
-
Language acquisition
-
Preparation can take years
-
Working in the Field
Site location of research
-
Gaining rapport
Trusting relationship between the researcher and the study
population
○
-
Gift giving
Giving gifts to people involved in the research can help the project,
but the gifts must be culturally and ethically appropriate
○
-
Class, ethnicity, gender and age can affect a researcher's fieldwork
-
Researchers may feel the affects of culture shock
Persistent feelings of uneasiness, loneliness, and anxiety that often
occur when a person has shifted from one culture to a different
one
○
Coming or going
○
-
Approaches to Fieldwork
Deductive approach
Starts from a research question or a hypothesis
○
Collects relevant data
○
Quantitative and Etic data
○
-
Etic
An analytical framework used by outside analysts in studying
culture
○
-
Inductive approach
Proceeds without a hypothesis
○
Gather data through unstructured, informal observation,
conversation, etc.
○
Qualitative or Emic Data
○
-
Emic
Insider's perceptions and categories, and their explanations for
why they do what they do
○
-
Fieldwork techniques
Participant-observation
Living with for an extended period of time and participating as
much as possible in their lives
○
Living in similar housing, eating similar food, wearing similar
clothing, language, daily activities
○
Overcome the "Hawthorne Effect"
○
-
Fieldwork Techniques and Collecting Cultural Data
Conversation
-
Interviews (table 5.1)
Informants: any person an anthropologist gets data from in the
study community, especially anyone interviews or who provides
information about what he or she has observed or heard
○
Interviews: any systematic conversation with an informant to
collect field research data, ranging from a highly structured set of
questions to the most open-ended ones
○
Intersubjectivity: fieldwork is not like collecting blackberries;
knowledge about other people emerges out of intersubjective
relationships and perceptions individuals have with each other
○
-
Must combine observation and talking
What people do may be different from what they say they do
○
-
Must strike the difficult balance of combining talking, listening, and
observation
-
Aside from participant observation and interviews, do anthropologists use
other methods? YES
The comparative method
Comparison between societies
○
Multi-sited ethnography
○
HRAF (human relations __ files)
○
-
The genealogical method
Recording kinship
○
-
Life history
A qualitative, in depth description of and individual's life
○
-
Ethnohistory
Combines historical and ethnographic approached to understand
social and cultural change
○
Even in contexts with historical documents, life histories and
archaeological data can provide additional perspectives on the
"official" history
○
-
Rapid appraisals
Rapid appraisals, short-term ethnographic fieldwork, may be
required for highly specific questions or when funding cannot
support year-round field research
○
AKA "parachute ethnography"
○
-
Action research
Research committed to making social change
○
Participatory action research
○
-
Anthropology at a distance
Unable to do fieldwork
○
-
Analyzing secondary materials
Texts, archival sources
○
Not compiled by researcher (those are primary sources)
○
-
What special challenges do anthropologists working in their own societies
face?
Anthropologists working "at home" experience both the benefits and the
drawbacks of familiarity. They are familiar with language and customs,
but this familiarity has the potential to blind them to patterns obvious to
and outside
-
Many become more engaged with trying to address social problems of
their own countries
-
See "Anthropologists as Problem Solver: Alcida Rita Ramos and
Indigenous Rights in Brazil"
-
Recording Culture
Field notes
Daily logs, personal journals, descriptions about events
○
-
Tape recordings
Must be transcribed
○
-
Photographs
-
Videos
Cannot participate or take notes at the same time
○
-
Who should have access to field notes?
Most anthropologists view field notes as too private for publication,
except in carefully edited excerpts
-
It's questionable whether field notes should be made available to
informant communities
On the one hand, the data belong to the informants
○
On the other hand, they may contain details that individuals do not
want publically exposed
○
-
What special ethical dilemmas do ethnographers face?
Common ethical dilemmas: do no harm, considerations about to whom
anthropologists are responsible, and who should control anthropology's
findings
-
Pseudonyms for informants
Margaret Mead (1928) altered details about the adolescent girls
she interviewed so that they could not be identified, especially
those who engages in socially disapproved behaviors like
premarital sex
○
-
Ethical Principles for Anthropologists
From front of the textbook*
-
Do no harm
Avoid harm to dignity, bodily harm, and material well being
○
Be aware of intended consequences of research
○
-
Be open and honest regarding your own work
-
Obtain informed consent and necessary permissions
-
Weigh competing ethical obligations due collaborations and affected
parties
-
Make your results accessible
-
Protect and preserve your records
-
Maintain respectful and ethical professional relationships
-
Processes of
Anthro
Week 3, Lecture 4 (pg. 1 -
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
2:21 PM
What is so distinctive about anthropological fieldwork?
Misunderstanding about what anthropologists in the field actually do
-
Cultural anthropologists do research by building personal relationships
over a period of time
Difficult process to prepare for in advanced
○
Impossible to anticipate every challenge
○
Must learn to expect the unexpected or at least be flexible enough
to adapt to unexpected circumstances
○
-
Distinctive methodological tools of cultural anthropology help maintain
flexibility and make field research possible
-
Anthropological fieldwork
The defining methodology of cultural anthropology
Its extended period of close involvement with the people who the
anthropologists is interested
○
Goal of fieldwork is to collect information or data
○
-
Allows insight that would not be possible with short visits, surveys, or
brief interviews
-
Can yield an understanding of culture and behavior that people
themselves might no even be aware of
-
Ethnography is the description of the customary social behaviors of an
identifiable group of people
Written or filmed
○
-
Ethnology comparative study of two or more cultures
-
Type of Data that is Collected
Qualitative data
Word based descriptions "quality"
○
Includes field notes
○
Searching for themes or patterns
○
Goal is to produce an in-depth and detailed description of social
activities and beliefs
○
Closely linked to participant observation and ethnography
○
-
Quantitative data
Numeric presentation "quantity"
○
Usually involves statistics and specialized software
○
Statistics help the researcher to see what quantifiable aspects of a
culture are significant or insignificant
Incomes
§
Family size
§
Economics
§
Timed tasks
§
○
-
Preparing for Fieldwork
Selecting a topic
Literature review
○
Notable events
○
Particular item or commodify
○
Restudy
○
-
Usually have specific questions in mind based on their theoretical
backgrounds and research focus
Frequently change
○
Insightful cultural questions should get people talking
○
More talk, more rapport means more information about the
cultural logic of their everyday lives
○
-
Obtain funding
-
Obtain permission and ethic review
Ethical review in Canada
○
Informed consent
Aspects of research ethics requiring that he researcher
inform the research participants of the intent, scope, and
possible effects of the study and seek their agreement to be
in the study
§
○
-
Travel and accommodation
Visas
○
Health preparations
○
Specialized equipment
○
Research equipment such as recording devices
○
-
Language acquisition
-
Preparation can take years
-
Working in the Field
Site location of research
-
Gaining rapport
Trusting relationship between the researcher and the study
population
○
-
Gift giving
Giving gifts to people involved in the research can help the project,
but the gifts must be culturally and ethically appropriate
○
-
Class, ethnicity, gender and age can affect a researcher's fieldwork
-
Researchers may feel the affects of culture shock
Persistent feelings of uneasiness, loneliness, and anxiety that often
occur when a person has shifted from one culture to a different
one
○
Coming or going
○
-
Approaches to Fieldwork
Deductive approach
Starts from a research question or a hypothesis
○
Collects relevant data
○
Quantitative and Etic data
○
-
Etic
An analytical framework used by outside analysts in studying
culture
○
-
Inductive approach
Proceeds without a hypothesis
○
Gather data through unstructured, informal observation,
conversation, etc.
○
Qualitative or Emic Data
○
-
Emic
Insider's perceptions and categories, and their explanations for
why they do what they do
○
-
Fieldwork techniques
Participant-observation
Living with for an extended period of time and participating as
much as possible in their lives
○
Living in similar housing, eating similar food, wearing similar
clothing, language, daily activities
○
Overcome the "Hawthorne Effect"
○
-
Fieldwork Techniques and Collecting Cultural Data
Conversation
-
Interviews (table 5.1)
Informants: any person an anthropologist gets data from in the
study community, especially anyone interviews or who provides
information about what he or she has observed or heard
○
Interviews: any systematic conversation with an informant to
collect field research data, ranging from a highly structured set of
questions to the most open-ended ones
○
Intersubjectivity: fieldwork is not like collecting blackberries;
knowledge about other people emerges out of intersubjective
relationships and perceptions individuals have with each other
○
-
Must combine observation and talking
What people do may be different from what they say they do
○
-
Must strike the difficult balance of combining talking, listening, and
observation
-
Aside from participant observation and interviews, do anthropologists use
other methods? YES
The comparative method
Comparison between societies
○
Multi-sited ethnography
○
HRAF (human relations __ files)
○
-
The genealogical method
Recording kinship
○
-
Life history
A qualitative, in depth description of and individual's life
○
-
Ethnohistory
Combines historical and ethnographic approached to understand
social and cultural change
○
Even in contexts with historical documents, life histories and
archaeological data can provide additional perspectives on the
"official" history
○
-
Rapid appraisals
Rapid appraisals, short-term ethnographic fieldwork, may be
required for highly specific questions or when funding cannot
support year-round field research
○
AKA "parachute ethnography"
○
-
Action research
Research committed to making social change
○
Participatory action research
○
-
Anthropology at a distance
Unable to do fieldwork
○
-
Analyzing secondary materials
Texts, archival sources
○
Not compiled by researcher (those are primary sources)
○
-
What special challenges do anthropologists working in their own societies
face?
Anthropologists working "at home" experience both the benefits and the
drawbacks of familiarity. They are familiar with language and customs,
but this familiarity has the potential to blind them to patterns obvious to
and outside
-
Many become more engaged with trying to address social problems of
their own countries
-
See "Anthropologists as Problem Solver: Alcida Rita Ramos and
Indigenous Rights in Brazil"
-
Recording Culture
Field notes
Daily logs, personal journals, descriptions about events
○
-
Tape recordings
Must be transcribed
○
-
Photographs
-
Videos
Cannot participate or take notes at the same time
○
-
Who should have access to field notes?
Most anthropologists view field notes as too private for publication,
except in carefully edited excerpts
-
It's questionable whether field notes should be made available to
informant communities
On the one hand, the data belong to the informants
○
On the other hand, they may contain details that individuals do not
want publically exposed
○
-
What special ethical dilemmas do ethnographers face?
Common ethical dilemmas: do no harm, considerations about to whom
anthropologists are responsible, and who should control anthropology's
findings
-
Pseudonyms for informants
Margaret Mead (1928) altered details about the adolescent girls
she interviewed so that they could not be identified, especially
those who engages in socially disapproved behaviors like
premarital sex
○
-
Ethical Principles for Anthropologists
From front of the textbook*
-
Do no harm
Avoid harm to dignity, bodily harm, and material well being
○
Be aware of intended consequences of research
○
-
Be open and honest regarding your own work
-
Obtain informed consent and necessary permissions
-
Weigh competing ethical obligations due collaborations and affected
parties
-
Make your results accessible
-
Protect and preserve your records
-
Maintain respectful and ethical professional relationships
-
Processes of
Anthro
Week 3, Lecture 4 (pg. 1 -
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 2:21 PM
Document Summary
Misunderstanding about what anthropologists in the field actually do. Cultural anthropologists do research by building personal relationships over a period of time. Must learn to expect the unexpected or at least be flexible enough to adapt to unexpected circumstances. Distinctive methodological tools of cultural anthropology help maintain flexibility and make field research possible. Its extended period of close involvement with the people who the anthropologists is interested. Goal of fieldwork is to collect information or data. Allows insight that would not be possible with short visits, surveys, or brief interviews. Can yield an understanding of culture and behavior that people themselves might no even be aware of. Ethnography is the description of the customary social behaviors of an identifiable group of people. Ethnology comparative study of two or more cultures. Goal is to produce an in-depth and detailed description of social. Goal is to produce an in-depth and detailed description of social activities and beliefs.
