0 Approaches to Area Studies (2) :Conducting Field Work

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Approaches to Area Studies

(2)

:Conducting Field Work

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Why Do We Need Fieldwork?

I35003 Suh Hee Jong

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01. Fieldwork in Area Studies

IntroductionCONTENTS

02. Based on Area (Vietnam, Doi Moi)

03. Interdisciplinary (India, Worshiping Cow)

04. Bottom-up (Guns, Germs, and Steel)

05. Conclusion

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Q. Why do we need fieldwork in area studies?

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Features of Area Studies

(1) Area studies is based on the Area.

(2) Area studies is the Interdisciplinary approach.

(3) Area studies is the Bottom-up perspective.

Role of Fieldwork in Area Studies

(1) Field work provides the true understanding of Area.

(2) Field work is the starting point of Interdisciplinary work.

(3) Field work helps to raise the question from the Bottom.

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02. Area Studies is based on the Area

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“There is difference between knowledge and understanding.”

- William W. Cressey -

Knowledge ← Classroom

Understanding ← Field experience

The understanding of other people can be fully developed by in-

volvement or experience in field rather than readings or lectures.

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02. Area Studies is based on the Area

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Vietnam economic reform policy, Doi Moi

Class

: Economic reform policy liberalizes market.

Field

: Why are there so many luxurious buildings?

1) Safe investment

2) Geomancy

→ How Doi Moi takes effect in real world.

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03. Area studies is the Interdisciplinary approach

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“The success of interdisciplinary research depends on assimilating him-

self into the environment.”

- Narifumi Maeda Tachimoto-

Cast away the prejudice and escape from our own disciplines.

Fieldwork is the starting point to rebuild the research design.

Without the background of understanding in local situation, it is

hard to achieve the interdisciplinary work in area studies.

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Worshiping Cow in India.

Q. Do people in India really “worship” cow?

- It doesn’t make sense in political science.

- Indian people sometimes kick them out.

- It requires historical & cultural explanations.

1) Sacrificing cow for ritual costed too much.

2) Hunting society → Agricultural society

→ Comprehensive understanding of culture

03. Area studies is the Interdisciplinary approach

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04. Area studies is the Bottom-up Perspective

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“It is not just that there are different answers;

there are different questions.”

- William W. Cressey -

Q. Why Papua New Guinea couldn’t be US?

A. Because of different natural environments

Bottom-up perspective → Generalization

↑

Fieldwork

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05. Conclusion

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Fieldwork Knowledge

Fieldwork in included in the process of data collection.

Next step should be followed by disciplinary methods.

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How Should Fieldwork be Performed?

: Essence and Techniques of Fieldwork

I36003 Kim Seung Ju

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01. Fieldwork and Rinchi-kenkyu


02. Encounter

03. Rapport: Association with people

04. Rapport: Interaction with a place05. Parting

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Evolvement of the Definition

Field-Work in 1777: Work done in the field, or in the fields.

“Argonauts of the Western Pacific” by B. Malinowski published in 1922

have proved that fieldwork can develop a perspective for a new theory.

The continuous research of collecting numerous data about every aspect

of people’s life by staying in a community for a long period of time was

accepted as a methodology in social sciences.

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It is only recently that field work started to be used as “a general term to

indicate practical aspects of studies in archaeology, linguistic and sociol-

ogy conducted in target and related areas, distinguished from theoretical

and laboratory research”.

This fieldwork has not only been developed as a valuable approach to un-

derstand different cultures but it is also recognized as an effective ap-

proach across disciplinary boundaries in studying areas of investigation in

general.

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In Japan, the translation of the word “fieldwork” are associated with the

discriminatory nuance that fieldwork is the “work” of data collection and

the real study is only possible in the laboratory or office with data gath-

ered for examination.

“Rinchi-kenkyu” by Mantaro Hashimoto: being-on-the-spot or facing-the-

place research

Rinchi-kenkyu: Conducting investigation and research while putting one-

self in a given place. A space, a location where something is happening or

being done, or a circumstance or atmosphere or ambience in which

something is being done is a “place”.

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Place also refers to where intuition is formed. Fieldwork start to form it-

self into a meaningful method only when a researcher questions the place

where he has lived as a given.

Doing a fieldwork means seeking a change of place. It is necessary to

leave a place and wander about but researchers must make themselves

the master in the study of an area and keep coming back to that place.

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02. Encounter

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What is most important in predicting success or failure of field work is the

understanding that the knowledge per se is not enough when doing re-

search because it has its own limitations. So a researcher goes abroad and

he encounters new circumstances.

Encounter is the initiation of an association comfortable to both you and

local people. So try to adjust your behaviour by holding a relative view of

the culture and an open-mind to accommodate the cultural difference.

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02. Encounter

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A student of area studies ought to know the common practices of the tar-

get country and to supposedly conform to it as “Do in Rome as the Ro-

mans do”. But if you know nothing about the local people, greeting peo-

ple in your own (cultural) way maybe effective.

The selection of a language is certainly based on the practical considera-

tion but at the same time, it openly demonstrates the existing power rela-

tionship.

Communication is impossible without conveying your own heart. When

neither side knows the other’s language, they may have to depend on a

common language.

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For students of humane studies and social sciences, encountering, associ-

ating and interacting with people are the important objectives of field-

work.

Although observation seems to be the most reliable tool in studying a

“place”; that the observation is objective and bias-free, the researcher,

inevitably watches and perceives things in the framework taken for

granted in his own culture.

If you perceive cultures in a universal way with no regard to the subtle dif-

ferences, you would lose the ability to infer what people are thinking. To

understand a “place”, you need to be face-to-face with those who have

lived there and listen to them.

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<Tips on how to carry out fieldwork>

Try not to limit the associations to a certain group.

If you want to know the privately shared esoterica, it is better to interview

an expert insider who knows everything.

Connecting, bonding and blending in with local people may be the best

way to form associations. Your top priority should be to establish an asso-

ciation with the local people. Association is not necessarily a function of

time

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Not all researchers can be completely unbiased and it is not always best

from the strategic point of view. It is sometimes an advantage for a re-

searcher to maintain his own point of view.

It is also important to keep in mind that to investigate means to be inves-

tigated. Local people also observe and investigate the researcher. If you

forget this, you will never have any meaningful interaction with local peo-

ple.

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Freedom of doing research vs the right to refuse

Protection of privacy vs non-violation of privacy

The first step to research and a study is to know what is considered pri-

vate and what is public and what are the rights of people in community.

You also need to do research in the framework of social and cultural con-

text of the local people while respecting their wishes.

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04. Rapport: Interaction with a place

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There are also interactions between a person and an object and between a per-

son and a place.

Elements of interacting with a place

1) To observe and think

2) To form links

3) To stand in an imagined world

“Expansion of a place”

: In doing fieldwork, a researcher has to think about the boundaries of a place.

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04. Parting

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Parting refers to coming back to the world of their (researchers) origin

and the manner of parting and the aftercare is important. It is necessary

to stay open and maintain the possibility of having future contacts.

It is also important to note that rinchi-kenkyu (fieldwork) is an initiation.

Initiation is a process where a person changes from being something to

something else.

Parting is followed by the act of sharing and reporting of the research. But

when making the research public, the researcher needs to take particular

care to give the highest priority to the privacy of informants.

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Conducting Fieldwork: Case Study

I37030 Aiste Zemaityte

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01. Understanding area concept: Southeast Asia


02. Conducting Field Work (1)- Introduction

- Field Work

- Introduction

- Getting Started

- Conducting Field Work in Japan

03. Conducting Field Work (2)

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Sea is dominant and particular ecological feature in Southeast Asia:

- It effects selection of habitat, occupation, subsistence.

Social relations consist of radical pairing or dyadic equilibrium:

- A pair activity to cope with harsh environment;

- Creates flexible circle of people (no strict membership).

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Limited and restricted locations of resources:

- In order to find a better location for hunting or fishing people were

moving around a lot.

No long-endured leadership:

- Short-lived charismatic leaders who fitted the diasporic situation.

(large supplies of water, mobile population, recources)

Southeast Asia does not have systematic integrity like China:

- Network society or an aggregation of networking societies;

- A unit-world deriving its uniqueness based on eco-identity

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Chee Kiong Tong,

“Identity and Ethnic Relations

in Southeast Asia: Realizing

Chineseness”

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<Introduction>

Different stances and strategies of Southeast Asian countries in relating to

and dealing with religious Chinese diaspora;

“One of the key aims of this book is to, based on empirical data collected

in the various countries in Southeast Asia, develop new conceptual mod-

els and to retheorize ideas of ethnic identity and ethnic relations in

Southeast Asia.”

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<Field work>

Data used in the book was collected during field trips (10 days to 1

month) to each of the countries included in the study:

1. In-depth interviews with informants:

▷Open-ended, semi-structured interviews;

▷Casual interview-like

2. Visits to and observations of community organizations: temples, clan

associations, Chambers of Commerce, schools.

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Interviews were conducted in English, Mandarin, and various of dialects

used among Chinese (e.g. in Thailand many interviews were carried out in

Teochew);

Field notes were made during interviews and after;

Interviews generally lasted 30 min to 3 hours;

In each of the countries, interviews were carried out with between 80 and

100 Chinese informants.

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Interviews were also made with indigenous population;

A whole range informants were selected for interviews

(Chinese businessmen, taxi drivers, civil servants etc., age 18-70);

Visits to home of Chinese families;

A study also drew on secondary and archival materials.

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Levi McLaughlin,

“All Research is Fieldwork: A Practical

Introduction to Studying in Japan as a

Foreign Researcher”

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<Introduction>

This guide designed to assist researchers through initial stages of Japan-

based study.

In Japan all research situations are different:

- Different cataloging modes in different libraries;

- Each situation is structured by social connections

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<Getting Started>

Formal introduction to Japanese university, research institute, or other in-

stitution of higher learning is required;

Start Japanese-based study at home country;

Researcher should start contacting people he/she wants to meet before

leaving to Japan (using Japanese language is preferable);

Be prepared to explain research project in about three minutes.

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<Conducting Field Work in Japan>

The best way to be introduced to a group of people or institution in Japan

is through a personal connection to someone from the middle to the

bottom of the organization’s social hierarchy.

the more specific request is, the easier it will be for people to help.

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Tips on interviews in Japan:

√ Friend of the friend: the person feels free to speak freely without

destroying social relations;

√ Do not call interview an “interview”;

√ Be prepared to abandon any pre-scripted questions

(structured interview);

√ Attempt to initiate the conversation in Japanese and carry out

the entire interview in Japanese;

√ Be prepared to answer a lot of questions about yourself;

√ Be sure to follow up every interview with a thank-you, either in writing

or by phone.

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Japanese social protocol demands bring an omiyage, a simple gift, to

demonstrate sincerity;

Meishi, name cards or business cards, are ubiquitous forms of formal

introduction in Japan.

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Thank You

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0 Approaches to Area Studies (2) :Conducting Field Work