Chapter 2 Researching Culture

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 How do cultural anthropologists conduct research about culture? What does fieldwork involve? What are some urgent issues in cultural anthropology research today?

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Part 1. Changing Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology

From the Armchair to the Field Participant Observation

History of Fieldwork
1870s Armchair approach

Early 1900s

Verandah approach

Today

Participant observation

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Participant Observation
Learning about culture by living in a culture for an extended period Bronislaw Malinowski took this approach while studying the people of the Trobriand Islands Key elements:
Living with the people Participating in their everyday life Learning the language

Early Fieldwork and Participant Observation

Goal: to record as much as possible of a peoples language, songs, rituals, and social life because many cultures were disappearing Most research was conducted in small, isolated cultures

Changing Methods in a Global World

Few, if any, isolated cultures remain Anthropologists need methods for studying
Larger-scale cultures Global-local connections Cultural change

From the faraway, exotic and small-scale

For example, the Andaman Islands of India, or Samoa

To urban and globalizing sites such as Tangier, Morocco

To the field at home: for example, Tangier, Virginia

Including Main Street

From holistic studies of small groups

Such as indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, tofocused topical studies such as health or conflict in larger societies

Gender: womens lives in a South Indian urban neighborhood

Or how globalization affects informal markets in the Old City of Istanbul, Turkey

Or poverty and health in Johannesburg, South Africa

Or tourisms environmental and social effects in the Andaman Islands

Innovation: Multisited Research

Fieldwork conducted on a topic in more than one location Especially helpful for studying migrant populations Example: Lanita Jacobs-Hueys research about the language and culture of hairstyles among African American women

Part 2. Doing Fieldwork in Cultural Anthropology

Beginning the Fieldwork Process Working in the Field Fieldwork Techniques Recording Culture

Choosing a Research Topic

Find gaps in literature Current events Focus on a commodity Re-study
Example of the Trobriand Islanders

Luck!

Critical Thinking:
Shells and Skirts in the Trobriand Islands Bronislaw Malinowski: original study
Early 20th century research Examined kula, mens trading network Annette Weiner: re-study Later 20th century, returned to same location to study art Discovered that women also have a trading network but exchange different material goods

Critical Thinking Questions

Is it possible that Malinowski overlooked womens exchange patterns? Do the findings of Annette Weiner simply provide another one-sided view What might a cultural anthropologist discover in the Trobriand Islands now?

Culturama: The Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea

Coral atolls east of the island of New Guinea Colonized by Great Britain and ceded to Australia in 1904; became part of Papua New Guinea in 1975 Christian missionaries introduced cricket as a substitute for warfare Language: many different dialects but all speak a version of Kilivila Grow much of their own food: root crops, bananas, breadfruit, coconuts, and betel nuts Pigs raised for food and prestige item Kinship emphasizes the female line Contemporary challenges include the money economy and overfishing

The Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea

Preparing for the Field

Funding Visas and permission to conduct research Ethical considerations
AAA Code of Ethics Protection of human subjects and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) Informed consent

Specialized equipment, medical kit Language training Personal safety considerations

Working in the Field

A lengthy and difficult process
Site selection Gaining rapport Gift giving and exchange
Gifts should be culturally and ethically appropriate

Microcultures and fieldwork

Issues of race, class, gender, and age

Culture shock
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Site Selection
Several factors:
The size of the population(s)/area(s) depends on the topic being researched Topic may require a specialized location, such as a clinic Many communities do not welcome researchers Often, housing shortages mean the community cannot make space for the anthropologist

Gaining Rapport
Rapport is a trusting relationship between the researcher and the study population Important to establish rapport with gatekeepers Anthropologists are often labeled as spies Example: Christa Salamandra in Damascus, Syria
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Gift Giving and Exchange

Giving gifts can help the project proceed Gifts should be culturally and ethically appropriate Important to learn the local rules of exchange

Culture and Gift Giving in the Field

Microcultures and Fieldwork

Class, race, gender, age, and other microcultural factors may affect how local people will perceive and welcome an anthropologist

Culture Shock
Feelings of
uneasiness, loneliness, and anxiety that occur when a person shifts from one culture to another one reduced competence as a cultural actor

Can include problems with food, language barriers, and loneliness Reverse culture shock may occur after coming home

Fieldwork Techniques
Research and Data Recording Culture Data Analysis

Two Major Research Approaches

Etic
data collected according to the outsider researchers questions and categories deductive; goal of being able to test a hypothesis preferred by cultural materialists

Emic
seeks to understand what insiders say and understand about their culture, their categories of thinking inductive; not hypothesis-driven preferred by interpretivists

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Two Research Approaches, contd

Data Collection Techniques

Interviews Questionnaires Watching and asking Life history Texts/historical sources Team projects
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Field notes

Tape recording, photography, and videos

Eye on the Environment:

Researching Inuit Place Names and Landscape Knowledge

South Baffin Island Place Name Project

Dedicated to collecting and recording Inuit place names and landscape knowledge As most Inuit are now settled in villages and towns, this knowledge is in danger of being lost Looks at toponymy and indigenous knowledge

Eye on the Environment, contd

Collecting data
Community-wide workshops One-on-one interviews Participant observation Analysis and archiving

Baffin Island in Northeast Canada

Recording Culture
Field noteslogs, personal journals, descriptions of events, and notes about those notes Tape recording, photography, and videos; example:
Maria Catdra in Spain

Data Analysis
Qualitative Data
Descriptive field notes Narratives Myths and stories Songs and sagas Computers used to search for tropes (key themes

Quantitative Data
Statistics Example: Authors research in Jamaica

Gathering Quantitative Data on the Food Stamp Program in Jamaica

Analysis of Household Expenditure Data in Jamaica

Representing Culture
Ethnography descriptive writing about a culture
The main way cultural anthropologists present their findings Early ethnographers wrote about exotic cultures located far from Europe and North America Ethnographies have changed in recent decades
Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Part 3. Urgent Issues in Cultural Anthropology Research

Ethics and Collaborative Research Safety in the Field

Ethics in Anthropology

Prompted by Project Camelot & The Vietnam War In 1971, a standard code of ethics was adopted by the AAA

Does not condone undercover research

The anthropologists main responsibility is to ensure the safety of the people participating in the research

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

New Approach: Collaborative Research

Members of the study population work as partners with the anthropologist in
Data collection Data analysis Presentation of findings Sharing credit for results

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

Safety in the Field

Physical and psychological risks Violence Warzone anthropology
Provides important insights into militarization, protection, post-conflict reconstruction Requires special training and experience

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

 How do cultural anthropologists conduct research about culture? What does fieldwork involve? What are some important issues in cultural anthropology research today?

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.