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Fitting In: Real methods in anthropology

By Jolynna Sinanan, on 20 May 2014

By Elisabetta Costa, Nell Haynes, Tom McDonald, Daniel Miller, Razvan Nicolescu, Jolynna Sinanan, Juliano Spyer, Shriram Venkatraman, and Xin Yuan Wang

Qzone profile by Amber Wang

Qzone profile by Amber Wang

Most disciplines have formal methods for collecting data. By contrast the critical issue for ethnography is the task of transforming ourselves into the kind of person we need to be in order to conduct successful fieldwork. Someone people in the area feel comfortable with, would wish to make friends with and have confidence in. Since our method is in essence the cultivation of good relationships with our informants. Each of us has had to learn this sensitivity to the field and often change their appearance and behaviour accordingly.

For example Shriram found that when he started his fieldwork in South India he wore a t shirt and jeans. Practically no one would speak to him. But when he tried to go to the other extreme and conduct fieldwork wearing a formal shirt and trousers, he found that most people thought he was trying to sell them something. In one case after patiently explaining to a school the nature of our project and the research he would like to conduct the school teacher apologised but said firmly that the school was not really interesting in purchasing this `anthropology.’ Eventually he took further measures. He pierced both his ears and started wearing hand spun kurtas and `intellectual wear’ to clearly position himself as an academic. After which the fieldwork went just fine.

Juliano has found his fieldsite to be a split between evangelical Christians and others, and he needed neither to look like a `person of God’ or `person of the world’ so instead of dressing like either of these, he went for a European look that managed to be a neutral ‘gringo’ look that meant he could talk with people from both sides. Jolynna, by contrast had to take off most of her clothes, and adorn Carnival costume before those associated with the creation of Carnival camp that she wanted to study would speak to her. Elisa found that she had to shave her legs and underarms more carefully than usual since even to show a single hair where the legs or arms are not covered could be seen as shameful in this part of Turkey. She also found she had to keep the house immaculately clean.

Jolynna Sinanan modelling Carnival costumes. image by Cassie Quarless

Jolynna Sinanan modelling Carnival costumes. image by Cassie Quarless

Tom suffered from the quantity of strong alcohol he was expected to drink in local ‘feasts’ since that was the basis of male solidarity and commensality in the village where he lived. Danny found that he had to retreat from the more participatory nature of ethnography to more formal interviews since that was what people in England seemed to expect of him. On the other hand when looking at the subsequent interviews he didn’t find that the teenagers he worked with at schools had talked to him any differently as a middle aged man that to his colleague Ciara Green who is young woman, so the assumption that he should, for example, talk to boys and her to girls, turned out to be an unwarranted `strategy’. Nell got censored for drinking straight rum without a mixer, but also suffered considerable sunburn from having to hang out for long periods outside in the North Chile sun. Xin Yuan found that she had to dispense with the clothes she normally wears and adopt the bright patterns preferred by local people. Finally Razvan found he had to shift his behaviour and demeanour between four groups he was encountering: the students, the professionals, the friends and those for him his being a husband seemed most appropriate.

Elisabetta Costa in local headscarf

Elisabetta Costa in local headscarf

The other area of sensitivity which proved very variable was how we managed our own Facebook/QQ profiles. For example Jolynna at first tried to follow Danny’s advice and adopted a very neutral passive profile in Trinidad. She soon found this was entirely inappropriate and had to replace it with a very active one in which she posts frequently in order to make people comfortable, while, by contrast, the same strategy was correct for our English site where we post nothing at all in order to affirm that this sites exists solely for the purpose of research. Xin Yuan in the meantime blinged up her QQ profile with music and colour but also postings about her life in England in order to make herself look more interesting.

All of which confirms a basic premise of anthropology that methods are not things you start with. Rather it is only when you have learnt about the nature and preferences of the particular populations you are now living with that you can also determine what are the most appropriate ways of interacting with them and at least try to conform to their expectations.

11 Responses to “Fitting In: Real methods in anthropology”

  • 1
    PhillipsRf wrote on 20 May 2014:

    RT @UCLSocNet: Fitting In: Real methods in anthropology http://t.co/Ps3QdN8eIV

  • 2
    muddybeagle wrote on 20 May 2014:

    How different anthropology researchers adapted so that locals would speak with them: http://t.co/pQuJRq1rRe #anthropology

  • 3
    Laurent Camara wrote on 21 May 2014:

    Laurent Camara liked this on Facebook.

  • 4
    JohnPostill wrote on 21 May 2014:

    Fitting In: Methods in #anthropology ‘are not things you start with’ http://t.co/mD0egbK1WK #ethnography #methodology

  • 5
    hsiao_yun wrote on 21 May 2014:

    RT @JohnPostill: Fitting In: Methods in #anthropology ‘are not things you start with’ http://t.co/mD0egbK1WK #ethnography #methodology

  • 6
    sdartiailh wrote on 21 May 2014:

    RT @JohnPostill: Fitting In: Methods in #anthropology ‘are not things you start with’ http://t.co/mD0egbK1WK #ethnography #methodology

  • 7
    EladBenElul wrote on 21 May 2014:

    How anthropologists must adjust to local expectations to gain trust and create bonds- from clothes to social media http://t.co/yipCfo2UvK

  • 8
    hwileniu wrote on 21 May 2014:

    RT @JohnPostill: Fitting In: Methods in #anthropology ‘are not things you start with’ http://t.co/mD0egbK1WK #ethnography #methodology

  • 9
    thomasjohne wrote on 23 May 2014:

    Methods in #anthropology ‘are not things you start with’ http://t.co/TEmnh1Ewst #ethnography #methodology via @JohnPostill

  • 10
    Dylan wrote on 29 May 2014:

    Don’t forget the importance of karaoke in enhancing the trustworthiness and validity of interview responses

  • 11
    Vale Sikula wrote on 12 May 2015:

    Vale Sikula liked this on Facebook.