(Cultural Anthropology) This week we learned about ethnographic fieldwork, the a

Question

(Cultural Anthropology) This week we learned about ethnographic fieldwork, the act of “living with others over an extended period...to understand their experience through their eyes” (Guest 64). The assigned articles of week 1 and 2 also offer you a glimpse into what fieldwork is like and how anthropologist write up their research. For this discussion post, write 5-8 sentences about what you found interesting about these articles. In your response, address ONE of the following questions (do NOT answer BOTH, just ONE):

QUESTION 1: How does the anthropologist/researcher’s age, gender, race, class, education, or citizenship impact the research they can do or the types of relationships they develop with the communities they research? (Focus your discussion on ONE aspect of identity--for instance how does the researcher’s gender impact research.)

QUESTION 2: What are some ethical concerns anthropologists should consider when they do fieldwork? Why are ethics important to consider?

Explanation / Answer

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary. Also, you will have to write the 5-8 sentences about the article yourself since you haven’t posted the article or any details about it in the question.

(Answer) (Question 1) In the field of anthropology, human groups are studied meticulously and extensively. In order to make sure that researchers get a glimpse of the group’s everyday life, it is essential to fit into their normal circumstances and everyday lives.

In a modern metropolis setting, individual differences like gender, race and other attributes might not particularly matter as much. However, in the unusual ethnic group that an anthropologist might study, such differences might have a greater importance.

Let us assume that a woman anthropologist visits a cloistered tribe in some part of the world. This tribe is conservative about the anatomic differences between men and women. Anatomic nuances are not openly discussed. Women of that group might only share details and issues with other women and not with the men around them.

If the woman anthropologist might want to learn more about the ways of the women of that tribe, all she would need to do is ask about it in a private conversation. However, if the researcher was a man, he would have found it quite difficult to get the woman’s perspective of the group.

Since anthropology involves the life of the researcher becoming one with the lives of the members of the subject group, an element like gender would surely play an important part. Similarly, the subject group that is studied might welcome a different race, class or gender in different ways. This depends on the beliefs and traditions of that particular group.

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