Culture Counts A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

1. Culture Counts A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Serena Nanda Richard L. Warms CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY

2. LECTURE AND CHAPTER Outline • Nancy Scheper-Hughes- Death without Weeping • What is ethnographic fieldwork? • Ethnography Video • Brief history of research • Franz Boas and the four field approach and cultural relativism • Bronislaw Malinowski and participant observation • Preparing for Fieldwork • Anthropological techniques • Ethics in research

3. TRADITIONAL VIEW OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

4. NANCY SCHEPER-HUGHES Alto do Cruzeiro (Crucifix Hill)- Brazil “Why do the church bells ring so often?” “Indifference” of women to death of children Infants have “aversion to life” Mothers encouraged not to cry – tears dampen angel wings Fieldwork- traveled to Brazil, learned the language, lived in community, built trust and relationships. Fieldwork is more than research.

5. WHAT IS (ETHNOGRAPHIC) Fieldwork? • Firsthand exploration of a society and culture. • Reveals the differences between what people say they do and what they do. • Fieldwork is an essential component of the anthropological experience. • Fieldwork comes with its own host of challenges and dilemmas. • Ex: Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Greg Simon • Advantages/Disadvantages of Fieldwork?

6. Ethnography: Ellen Isaacs: Product design

7. Ethnography • Gathering and interpreting information based on intensive, firsthand study • The major research tool of cultural anthropology • Includes both: • fieldwork among people in a society (verb) • the written results of the fieldwork (noun) Advantages and disadvantages of an ethnography?

8. History of research in Anthropology • The first scholars who called themselves anthropologists worked in the second half of the 19th century. • The most famous were Sir Edward Burnett Tylor and Louis Henry Morgan. • They saw themselves as compilers and analysts of ethnographic accounts rather than field researchers (“armchair anthropologists”).

9. Cross-Cultural Comparison • British and European anthropologists were interested in ethnology. • In the 1860s, Herbert Spencer began to develop a way of organizing information on a large number of societies. • The project was called Descriptive Sociology.

10. Cross-Cultural Comparison • William Graham Sumner, Albert Keller, and George Murdock. • In the late 1930s, Murdock and Keller created a ethnographic database at Yale University. • In the late 1940s, the project was expanded to include other universities and its name changed to the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF).

11. Franz boas: fieldwork and the four field approach • Early work among the Kwakiutl of Pacific Northwest • Grounded in fieldwork process • Embarked on mission to document Native American cultures • Salvage Ethnography- speed at which it was conducted • Focus on culture, language, biology, and artifacts- four field approach • Development of Cultural Relativism as key • concept in fieldwork

12. Boas and Cultural Relativism • Boas insisted that anthropologists approach each culture on its own terms • This came to be known as cultural relativism • -hallmark of anthropology. • Boas argued that all human beings have equal capacities for culture • Human actions might be morally right or wrong, no culture was more evolved or of greater value.

13. Bronislawmalinowski: “father” of fieldwork • Went further than Boas in developing research methods in cultural anthropology • Polish citizen-Over a year on Trobriand Islands- WWI • Study of the Kula Ring • Set new standards for fieldwork- opening chapter had guidelines for fieldwork • Stay for long period of time • Learn the language • Get off the “veranda” • Engage in participant observation • Explore “mundane imponderabilia” • Emphasized that “native” ways were as logical as • one’s own

14. Participant Observation • Fieldwork technique that involves gathering cultural data by observing people’s behavior AND participating in their lives • Anthropologists work with respondents who guide them and offer insights into the culture. • Informants/Cultural consultant/Key informant- community member who offers cultural feedback • Rapport- relationship of trust with members of community being studied • Advantages and disadvantages of participant observation

15. Anthropologist and Informant What kind of relationship would you expect between an anthropologist and his or her primary informant?

16. Preparing for fieldwork • Vaccinations • Money- who, how much, guidelines and restrictions • Stay in new culture • Informants- letters of introduction • Food and medication • Visa/passport • Language • Customs and traditions • Your home/pets/children

17. Preparing for fieldwork • Literature review • Research methods/design • Anthropologist’s toolkit

18. Anthropological Techniques and research methods • Interviews • -Informal interviews- conversations from daily experience • -Unstructured interviews- scheduled conversation; informants choose path • -Semi-structured interviews- written list of questions/topics in specific order • -Structured interviews- set of identical or nearly identical questions in specific order with specific instructions • Data from interviews- • -Qualitative – information which cannot be counted • Ex: life histories, personal stories • Qualitative questions- open ended • -Quantitative- information which can be counted • Ex: age, income, partners • Quantitative questions- close ended

19. Question making

20. Dracula: dead and loving itThe importance of being specific

21. KINSEY- how to ask questions Kinsey and his research team

22. Mapping • The analysis of the physical space where fieldwork is conducted. • Mapping an external space- flow of people, infrastructure, lighting, traffic • Mapping an internal space- notice entry, exit, smells, noise, lighting, public and private areas, flow of people • Reflexivity

23. Experiments An artificially created situation that allows the researcher to manipulate variables.

24. EXISTING SOURCES • A research technique that makes use of previously collected and publicly accessible information and data.

25. Ethical Fieldwork Anthropologists must: • Obtain consent of the people to be studied- informed consent • Protect them from risk- ensure anonymity if needed • Respect their privacy and dignity

26. Project Camelot and human terrain system • Mid-1960s U.S. military project that used anthropologists to achieve foreign policy goals • Anthropologists seen as spies in host countries • HTS embedded social scientists in military units (2005-2006) • American Anthropological Association members raised concerns about the ethics of the project.

27. New Roles for Ethnographers • Today anthropologists increasingly must take into account regional and global connections • Anthropologists must constantly re-consider the deep connections between cultures • Conduct research on one’s own culture- Native anthropology

28. Quick Quiz

29. 1. Participant observation: • means that people who are the subjects of a study observe their own behavior. • is carried out in a laboratory setting. • is an intensive field research method in which the investigator lives among the subjects of study. • is another way of describing a telephone survey technique of collecting data.

30. Answer: c • Participant observation is an intensive field research method in which the investigator lives among the subjects of study.

31. 2. The philosophy that there is no single objective reality but rather many partial truths or cultural constructions, depending on one's frame of reference, is known as: • holism. • postmodernism. • globalism. • fundamentalism. • positivism.

32. Answer: b • The philosophy that there is no single objective reality but rather many partial truths or cultural constructions, depending on one's frame of reference, is known as postmodernism.

33. 3. The ethnographic database used most frequently to statistically test relationships between two or more culture traits across world cultures is: • the Human Relations Area Files. • the Summer Institute of Linguistics. • the Smithsonian Records. • the National Institute of Mental Health.

34. Answer: a • The ethnographic database used most frequently to statistically test relationships between two or more culture traits across world cultures is the Human Relations Area Files.

35. 4. Which of the following is not part of the Code of Ethics in anthropology? • An obligation to maintain the safety of the anthropologist • An obligation to uphold the standards of the discipline • An obligation to the people being studied • An obligation to the research sponsors

36. Answer: a • An obligation to maintain the safety of the anthropologist is not part of the anthropological Code of Ethics.