I found the Before: The Sixties article to be an interesting piece of reading. It was a nice explanation of what anthropological fieldwork is, and does a good job of being interesting (for me, at least) without the Indiana Jones-esque adventure to it. I had never thought too much about how difficult the simple task of asking what someone does in a day becomes when you can't speak the language. I think it would be fascinating to do fieldwork, and I'm not even an anthropology major.
Before: The Sixties portrays the importance of investigation preparation. Although the authors fieldwork experience was chosen my the professors, little did he know the obstacle that faced him during his stay. While many countries are different, language is a significant obstacle to overcome if not properly prepared. Having the inability to comprehend the language, one allows themselves for judgment. In the authors case, the villagers thought of him as a parrot constantly asking for them to repeat what was previously said for him to take note of. Another interesting fact was the magnitude of the fieldwork. While the author was wanting to do accomplish this large extensive work, he was only allowed to do microprojects. Little did he know as a novice, the timing he was there was not long enough for him to accomplish his aspirations of a larger fieldwork experience. How would we prepare for a study abroad if given the opportunity? Would you learn the language or some other aspect?
I found the Before: The Sixties article to be an interesting piece of reading. It was a nice explanation of what anthropological fieldwork is, and does a good job of being interesting (for me, at least) without the Indiana Jones-esque adventure to it. I had never thought too much about how difficult the simple task of asking what someone does in a day becomes when you can't speak the language. I think it would be fascinating to do fieldwork, and I'm not even an anthropology major.
ReplyDeleteBefore: The Sixties portrays the importance of investigation preparation. Although the authors fieldwork experience was chosen my the professors, little did he know the obstacle that faced him during his stay. While many countries are different, language is a significant obstacle to overcome if not properly prepared. Having the inability to comprehend the language, one allows themselves for judgment. In the authors case, the villagers thought of him as a parrot constantly asking for them to repeat what was previously said for him to take note of. Another interesting fact was the magnitude of the fieldwork. While the author was wanting to do accomplish this large extensive work, he was only allowed to do microprojects. Little did he know as a novice, the timing he was there was not long enough for him to accomplish his aspirations of a larger fieldwork experience. How would we prepare for a study abroad if given the opportunity? Would you learn the language or some other aspect?
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