Chapter 3 Fieldwork

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Part One Basic Concepts and Methods in
Anthropology

• Chapter 3 Fieldwork
• Preparing for the field
• Theoretical Models
• Research proposals, funding, and budgets

• Entering the native community and adapting
• Adapting physically and psychologically
• Establishing rapport

• Gathering data
• Role of the fieldworker
• Sampling methods and problems
• Use of informants
• Interview methods
• Genealogical methods
• Life histories
• photography

• Analyzing Data and preparing a report

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What is fieldwork?
How do anthropologist prepare for the field?
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Theoretical Models and Their Importance To
Anthropology

• What is theory?
• How is theory useful?
• What can theory tell us as
• anthropologist/archaeologist?
• How do anthropologist apply theory?

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Theoretical Approaches

• Cultural Ecology- the study of ecosystems that
  include
• people, focusing on how human use of nature
• influences and is influenced by social
  organization
• and cultural values.
• Leslie White
• Julian Steward
• Roy Rappaport

• Functionalist Model- theoretical interpretation
  in
• social science that search for the
  interconnections
• between social institutionshow they fit together
  and
• what they dorather that seeking causal
  explanations
• Bronislaw Malinowski
• A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

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History of Theory in Cultural Anthropology
Unilineal Evolutionist (1860-1900) Lewis Henry
Morgan Savagery---Barbarism---Civilization Diff
usionist Schools (Early 20th Century) Associated
with G. Elliot Smith and W.I. Perry They argued
that man was uninventive All civilizations
started in Egypt and spread out from
there Little influence on academia but was
popular with the laity Dissusionists schools
relied on two criterion 1. criterion of
quality 2. criterion of quantity Historical
Particularism (1915-1930s) Franz Boas (North
America)- beginning of ethnographic
fieldwork Bronislaw Malinowski
(British) Psychological Anthropology (Culture
and Personality--1930s-40s) Uniquely American
rooted in the school the Boasian tradition that
culture is a mental phenomenon. Popularized by
Mead and Benedict.
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History of Theory in Cultural Anthropology continu
ed
Cultural Neo-Evolutionism anti-Boasian
developed by Leslie White, Julian Steward,
Marshall Salins, and Elman Service. White
considered culture to be a system of its own
kind with system being thermodynamics (E ? T
C) Cultural Ecology Focused on the
articulation between culture and nature Julian
Steward   Neo-evolution-ecological scheme
Social results of technology economical
changes thru time Bands?Tribes?Chiefdoms?States.
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Contemplate the functions of the American fourth
of July holiday. Can you think of three ways
that this celebration meets the needs of the
members of our society individually and
collectively? Compare your list with that of a
classmate.
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Research proposals, funding and budgets

• Research designs
• Funding
• Budgets
• Bureaucratic red tape

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Entering the native community and adapting

• Arrival
• Adaptation period
• Physically
• Mentally

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Adapting physically and psychologically
Culture Shock- homesickness, withdrawal,
excessive sleep, family tension/conflict,
unexplainable fits or weeping, physical
ailments, irritability. Life shock- results
from the clash of 2 distinct cultures literal
shock results. Crying, vomiting, etc This is
triggered by a single incident that one is
unprepared for.
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Identify symptoms of culture shock that you have
experienced when joining in an activity of a
subculture that is new to you. Identify culture
shock in an ethnographic account that you are
reading as part of your class reading assignments.
Note that the author often will not actually
call the experience culture shock but instead
will cite situations and feelings that
illustrate the manifestations of culture shock.
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Establishing Rapport
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Gathering data

• The role of the fieldworker- participant observer
• emic- an insiders view of a culture
• etic- an outsiders view of a culture
• Sampling methods
• Random
• Judgment
• Problems with sampling
• bias
• Use of informants
• Interview methods
• Formal- (structured interviews) ask specific
  scripted
• question with each interview conducted in the
  same manner.
• Informal-(unstructured interviews) flows like a
  conversation
• allowing the interviewee to control the flow of
  the
• conversation. They are open ended
• Genealogical
• Life histories
• photography

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Analyzing data

• Quantitative Methods
• Hard numbers
• Statistics
• Qualitative methods
• Life histories
• Free listing
• Check-list matrices

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Preparing a Report and Publications

• American Anthropologist
• Current Anthropology
• American Antiquity
• Journal of Human Evolution
• And many more