Fieldwork Assignment Perhaps the most useful and sought-after expertise that h

Fieldwork Assignment

Perhaps the most useful and sought-after expertise that has emerged from the field of Anthropology is that of ethnography (“writing culture”). Ethnography emerges from careful and long-term fieldwork, and fieldwork encompasses skills in observation, culturally appropriate participation, language learning, interviewing, note taking, and analysis of cultural production (behaviors, meanings, symbolism, etc.). Ethnographic skills are useful, not only in fields directly related to Anthropology, but also in the fields of marketing and UX (user experience) Research, politics, public relations, public policy, intercultural training and consultancy, and the field of equity, diversity and inclusion, to name a few.

For this two-part assignment, you will learn more about what it is like to develop the skills of a cultural anthropologist, by doing some ethnographic fieldwork, writing up your material, and analyzing it through cross-cultural comparison and anthropological concepts. Here in southern California, we are fortunate to be living in one of the most culturally diverse parts of the United States, so there are plenty of opportunities for cross-cultural fieldwork all around.

You must submit your paper on the main CANVAS site by the deadline. Your 2 part paper should be approximately 1000-1200 words in a 12-point font, double-spaced with one-inch margins.

Part 1: the Fieldwork

You should identify a community and/or culture that you are not already familiar with, and that is not a part of your own community / culture. If you choose to do fieldwork at UCR, you should be able to justify your choice of community / culture carefully.

You have two options for your fieldwork, depending on your personal preference and interests: 1) participant observation or 2) a semi-structured interview.

Option 1: Ethnographic Observation

A hallmark of ethnography is observation. The anthropologist takes opportunities to pay careful attention to people’s activities and behaviors, as well as to the context in which those activities and behaviors occur. Attending social events and participating with people in both every day and in particular and special occasions presents opportunities to explore anthropological concepts in practice.

The Task
Choose a site where you would like to conduct fieldwork. Possible fieldwork sites may include a general place of activity (such as a place of worship, a community center, a museum exhibit, etc.), or a specific event (such as a wedding, a cultural performance, or a baptism, etc.).

You are required to go to your chosen site at least once. You should observe the activities at the site for about an hour. You may talk to people there, or you may choose to observe passively. When you conduct your fieldwork, you should think about particular aspects of culture that you could focus on and observe. For example, will you pay attention to language use? Non-verbal symbolism? Relations between members of different groups? Rituals? Kinship roles? Exchange and economics? etc. While in this setting, watch what is happening as carefully as possible, and record it in written field notes (remember to record the date, time, and location). You may, if you wish, participate as well as observe in your chosen context.

In doing so you should follow certain ethical guidelines. If you choose a non-public space, you must obtain permission from appropriate authorities to do your fieldwork. If you plan to take photographs, make sure you ask permission first. Please respect the customs and values of the place you are visiting. This means dressing appropriately (especially if you visit a religious site) and conducting yourself in a respectful manner. Do not focus on a site of known or obvious illegal activity.

Also, you should not choose a setting that is likely to have children as its focus. This includes daycares, parks, or playgrounds. Clearly many scenes will have situations in which the observation of children is unavoidable, such as at a mall, but settings where children are at the center of activity should be avoided.

Option 2: Semi-Structured Interviewing

One of the main ways anthropologists gather their data is by talking to people. Semi-structured interviewing is a data-gathering method that ensures that certain standard information will be collected for all interviewees, since each interviewee is asked the same set of questions. However, semi-structured interviews give the researcher the freedom to ask additional questions.

The Task
You should identify an adult (over 18) to interview, schedule a time, and conduct an interview based on the interview schedule in this handout (see below). You should add questions of your own, either as follow-up questions to the ones on the interview, or on any other topics that you think would be useful for writing your paper. Additional questions could be as
elaborate as taking the person’s entire life history or could be more topically focused, like asking when they last saw their parents or other family members, how they came to be in Southern California, how they became religious (if they are) or stopped being religious, why they identify with a particular ethnic identity and what that means to them, etc.

Respect your interviewee’s confidentiality: Make it clear that the information will only be used by this class, that they will remain anonymous to everyone except yourself, the instructor, and section instructor, and that they can skip any questions they would prefer not to answer. You should also offer to identify them by a pseudonym if they want to remain anonymous.

You may find it easier and more productive to conduct two interviews. If you do, you should reflect upon the process: Were there points where the interview went especially well? Were there points where it went badly? Why? What were the greatest challenges of the interview? If you had to do it again, what would you do differently? What questions did you forget to ask?

Part 1: Content

For option one: Review your notes, and—working from them—write up a descriptive account of your fieldwork, including the location, setting, organization of the space, the people observed and their interactions, conversations, etc. Remember discussions about Clifford Geertz’ “Thick Description.” Unlike the raw field notes, this write-up should be a polished narrative.

For option two: Describe the person you interviewed and the content of your interview. Also, describe the context of the interview, where you conducted the interview, what were the surroundings, and how did the interviewee conduct themselves (nervous, confident, gregarious, withdrawn, etc.). Include the questions that you added above and beyond those on the interview schedule.

Part 2: Ethnographic Analysis

Your second part of your paper should be an anthropological analysis of your fieldwork data and process.

For option one: What can you learn about the community / culture from your fieldwork?
What aspects of culture were you able to observe? Did the space or event meet your expectations? In other words, was it similar to how you thought it would be? Why or why not?

For option two: Some questions to think about include the emic/etic distinction: are there things the person said about their culture and experience that you would interpret differently as an outsider or based on information unavailable to them? Does the person have specific kinds of knowledge that aren’t shared with most members of their culture? If so, why? Is this person representative of their culture? Typically, social scientists have argued that kinship is relatively unimportant in industrial societies. Based on the responses of your interviewee, would you agree? Illustrate your answers with details from the interview. (These are only suggestions, designed to stimulate your thought and analysis).

For both options: In a paragraph or two, you should reflect on the methodological and ethical implications of your “fieldwork,“ e.g., how did you feel about your own role as observer? What sorts of effects may your presence have had within the given context? What was added and what was left out in the process of writing up your notes? Can you distinguish objective facts from your own impressions or interpretations?

Finally, and importantly, what sorts of questions or theses came out of this exercise? Are there ways that you could compare and/or contrast your experience with the course readings on fieldwork? What have you learned, and what else could you learn: if you were to continue to do anthropological research in the community you studied, what topics and questions would you aim to investigate?
FOR OPTION TWO ONLY:

Semi-Structured Interview Schedule (on the following page are some basic questions, but you should add questions of your own, either as follow-up questions to the ones on the interview, or on any other topics that you think would be useful to complete Paper 2 of the assignment. You do not need to ask them in the order specified, and it may be more effective to ask in a different order.)

Fieldwork Assignment
Interview Questions

Name: (strictly optional)

Gender:

Where were you born?

How long have you lived here?

How old are you?

What do you do for a living? How did you find your job or jobs?

What else do you do with your time?

With whom do you live?
Who owns the place where you live?

Where do you typically get your meals?
Have you gone to school? (If yes) What kind of school(s)? For how long?
What would you say is your social class, on a scale from one to five with one as upper class, five as lower class? Why did you choose this rating?
Do you have a religion? (If yes) What is it? Is it the same as your parents’ religion?

What languages do you speak?

What would you consider to be your ethnic and/or cultural identity?

16. How do you think this identity shapes your life on a day-to-day basis?

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