Reading Response# 8

A Very Structured Strategy

    FieldWorking paves the way for the researchers and the ethnographers because it almost talks about everything one needs in the field of research. Personally, I see it very helpful since it gives me a clear strategy on how to do the research. A very interesting sentence I found in chapter 1 says: “Detachment and involvement, subjectivity and objectivity, insider and outsider stances are equally coupled in fieldworking” (p. 9).

          My research is associated with people and their cultures. And this book warns me- and every ethnographer- to be aware of cultural differences. Powdermaker was trapped in colonization when she studied a culture of foreign people and subconsciously named them “stone-aged” (4). Ironically, the researcher should not let their previous stereotypes prevent them from researching about people. Jennifer Toth accomplished an amazing job when she went to the field of homeless people in New York City. Personally, I should do the same thing. I thought I knew about the cultures and the studying habits of the international students- whom my research is concerned- but when I went there, I discovered I had known just a little. The same thing is true with the research made by the anthropologist Renato Rosaldo who “stepped out” and examined his family during the breakfast time. By looking from outside, the insider Rosaldo gave very astonishing information about something people might consider very “trivial” since it happens every day in every family. However, the field notes written by Rosaldo were so important since it tackled power and gender differences, the thing that many theories in different fields cling to.

        The idea of field writing is so important for researchers. Personally, I sometimes go to the field without a notebook and even without a pen thinking that I can remember what I see and will be able to jot it down when I return home. Apparently, this way leads to unorganized and scattered information that becomes problematic when the researcher tries to publish them, besides its difficulty for the reader to grasp. “The difference between doing fieldwork and just ‘hanging out’ is the writing. Without writing, the sharp, incisive details about people, places, and cultures are lost to us” (p. 66).