Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology

30 Pages·2012·3.71 MB·English

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3
Method and Theory in
Cultural Anthropology
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e
n ETHNOGRAPHY:
i ANTHROPOLOGY’S
l
t DISTINCTIVE STRATEGY
u
o
ETHNOGRAPHIC

r TECHNIQUES
e
t Observation and understanding OURSELVES
p Participant Observation
a Conversation, B
h Interviewing, and een on any digs lately?” Ask your especially those subsumed under the label
c Interview Schedules professor how many times she or “ethnography,” were developed to deal with
The Genealogical Method he has been asked this question. small populations. Even when working in mod-
Key Cultural Consultants Then ask how often he or she actu- ern nations, anthropologists still consider eth-
Life Histories ally has been on a dig. Remember that anthro- nography with small groups to be an excellent
Local Beliefs and pology has four subfi elds, only two of which way of learning about how people live their
Perceptions, and the
(archaeology and biological anthropology) re- lives and make decisions.
Ethnographer’s
quire much digging—in the ground at least. Before this course, did you know the
Problem-Oriented
Even among biological anthropologists it’s names of any anthropologists? If so, which
Ethnography
mainly paleoanthropologists (those concerned ones? For the general public, biological an-
Longitudinal Research
with the hominid fossil record) who must dig. thropologists tend to be better known than
Team Research
Students of primate behavior in the wild, such cultural anthropologists because of what they
Culture, Space, and Scale
as Jane Goodall, don’t do it. Nor, most of the study. You’re more likely to have seen a fi lm of
SURVEY RESEARCH time, is it done by forensic anthropologists, in- Jane Goodall with chimps or a paleoanthro-
cluding the title character in the TV show pologist holding a hominid skull than a lin-
THEORY IN
ANTHROPOLOGY Bones. guistic or cultural anthropologist at work.
OVER TIME To be sure, cultural anthropologists “dig Archaeologists occasionally appear in the
Evolutionism out” information about varied lifestyles, as lin- media to describe a new discovery or to de-
The Boasians guistic anthropologists do about the features bunk pseudo-archaeological arguments about
of unwritten languages. Traditionally cultural how visitors from space have left traces on
Functionalism
anthropologists have done a variant on the earth. One cultural anthropologist was an im-
Confi gurationalism
Star Trek theme of seeking out, if not new at portant public fi gure when (and before and
Neoevolutionism
least different, “life” and “civilizations,” some- after) I was in college. Margaret Mead, famed
Cultural Materialism
times boldly going where no scientist has for her work on teen sexuality in Samoa and
Science and Determinism
gone before. gender roles in New Guinea, may well be the
Culture and the Individual
Despite globalization, the cultural diversity most famous anthropologist who ever lived.
Symbolic and Interpretive
Anthropology under anthropological scrutiny right now may Mead, one of my own professors at Columbia
be as great as ever before, because the an- University, appeared regularly on NBC’s To-
Structuralism
thropological universe has expanded to mod- night Show. In all her venues, including teach-
Processual Approaches
ern nations. Today’s cultural anthropologists ing, museum work, TV, anthropological fi lms,
World-System Theory and
Political Economy are as likely to be studying artists in Miami or popular books, and magazines, Mead helped
Culture, History, Power bankers in Beirut as Trobriand sailors in the Americans appreciate the relevance of an-
South Pacifi c. Still, we can’t forget that anthro- thropology to understanding their daily lives.
ANTHROPOLOGY
pology did originate in non-Western, nonin- Her work is featured here and elsewhere in
TODAY
dustrial societies. Its research techniques, this book.
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ETHNOGRAPHY: 7. Problem-oriented research of many sorts.
ANTHROPOLOGY’S 8. L ongitudinal research—the continuous
long-term study of an area or site.
DISTINCTIVE STRATEGY
9. T eam research—coordinated research by
Anthropology developed into a separate fi eld as
multiple ethnographers.
early scholars worked on Indian (Native Ameri-
can) reservations and traveled to distant lands to
Observation and
study small groups of foragers (hunters and gath-
erers) and cultivators. Traditionally, the process of Participant Observation
becoming a cultural anthropologist has required a
Ethnographers must pay attention to hundreds
fi eld experience in another society. Early ethnog-
of details of daily life, seasonal events, and un-
raphers lived in small-scale, relatively isolated so-
usual happenings. They should record what they
cieties with simple technologies and economies.
see as they see it. Things never will seem quite as
Ethnography thus emerged as a research strat-
strange as they do during the fi rst few weeks in
egy in societies with greater cultural uniformity
the fi eld. Often anthropologists experience cul-
and less social differentiation than are found in
ture shock—a creepy and profound feeling of
large, modern, industrial nations. Traditionally,
alienation—on arrival at a new fi eld site. Al-
ethnographers have tried to understand the whole
though anthropologists study human diversity,
of a particular culture (or, more realistically, as
the actual fi eld experience of diversity takes
much as they can, given limitations of time and
some getting used to, as we see in this chapter’s
perception). To pursue this goal, ethnographers
“Appreciating Diversity.” The ethnographer
adopt a free-ranging strategy for gathering infor-
eventually grows accustomed to, and accepts as
mation. In a given society or community, the eth-
normal, cultural patterns that initially were alien.
nographer moves from setting to setting, place to
Staying a bit more than a year in the fi eld allows
place, and subject to subject to discover the total-
the ethnographer to repeat the season of his or
ity and interconnectedness of social life. By ex-
her arrival, when certain events and processes
panding our knowledge of the range of human
may have been missed because of initial unfa-
diversity, ethnography provides a foundation for
miliarity and culture shock.
generalizations about human behavior and social
Many ethnographers record their impressions
life. Ethnographers draw on varied techniques to
in a personal diary, which is kept separate from
piece together a picture of otherwise alien life-
more formal fi eld notes. Later, this record of early
styles. Anthropologists usually employ several
impressions will help point out some of the most
(but rarely all) of the techniques discussed below
basic aspects of cultural diversity. Such aspects
(see also Bernard 2006).
include distinctive smells, noises people make,
how they cover their mouths when they eat, and
how they gaze at others. These patterns, which
ETHNOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES
are so basic as to seem almost trivial, are part of
The characteristic fi eld techniques of the ethnogra- what Bronislaw Malinowski called “the impon-
pher include the following: derabilia of native life and of typical behavior”
(Malinowski 1922/1961, p. 20). These features of
1. Direct, fi rsthand observation of behavior,
culture are so fundamental that natives take them
including participant observation.
for granted. They are too basic even to talk about,
2. C onversation with varying degrees of formal- but the unaccustomed eye of the fl edgling eth-
ity, from the daily chitchat that helps main- nographer picks them up. Thereafter, becoming
tain rapport and provides knowledge about familiar, they fade to the edge of consciousness. I
what is going on, to prolonged interviews, mention my initial impressions of some such im-
which can be unstructured or structured. ponderabilia of northeastern Brazilian culture in
this chapter’s “Appreciating Diversity.” Initial
3. The genealogical method.
impressions are valuable and should be recorded.
4. Detailed work with key consultants, or infor- First and foremost, ethnographers should try to
mants, about particular areas of community be accurate observers, recorders, and reporters of
life. what they see in the fi eld.
Ethnographers strive to establish rapport, a
5. I n-depth interviewing, often leading to the
good, friendly working relationship based on
collection of life histories of particular people
personal contact, with their hosts. One of eth-
(narrators).
nography’s most characteristic procedures is
6. D iscovery of local (native) beliefs and participant observation, which means that we
p erceptions, which may be compared with take part in community life as we study it. As
the ethnographer’s own observations and human beings living among others, we cannot
conclusions. be totally impartial and detached observers. We
Chapter 3 Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology 51
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appreciating
D I V E R S I T Y
the sand. “That’s not snow, is it?” I remarked to
a fellow fi eld team member. . . .
Even Anthropologists Get Culture Shock
My fi rst impressions of Bahia were of
smells—alien odors of ripe and decaying man-
goes, bananas, and passion fruit—and of swat-
I fi rst lived in Arembepe (Brazil) during the New York City direct to Salvador, Bahia, ting the ubiquitous fruit fl ies I had never seen
(North American) summer of 1962. That was Brazil. Just a brief stopover in Rio de Janeiro; a before, although I had read extensively about
between my junior and senior years at New longer visit would be a reward at the end of their reproductive behavior in genetics classes.
York City’s Columbia College, where I was ma- fi eld work. As our prop jet approached tropical There were strange concoctions of rice, black
joring in anthropology. I went to Arembepe as a Salvador, I couldn’t believe the whiteness of beans, and gelatinous gobs of unidentifi able
participant in a now defunct program designed
to provide undergraduates with experience
doing ethnography—fi rsthand study of an alien
society’s culture and social life.
Brought up in one culture, intensely curious
about others, anthropologists nevertheless ex-
Sauipe
perience culture shock, particularly on their BAHIA
fis erst t ofi fe flede tlriinpg. sC ualbtuoruet sbheoincgk rinef earns atolie tnh es ewthtionlge, reviJaRcueip 12°30"S
Dom João
and the ensuing reactions. It is a chilly, creepy ParaguaçuRiver Sugar Mill
Praia Do Forte
feeling of alienation, of being without some of
São Francisco
the most ordinary, trivial (and therefore basic) Do Conde Camacari
cues of one’s culture of origin. Mataripe
As I planned my departure for Brazil in 1962,
I could not know just how naked I would feel Bay of Arembepe ATLANTIC
All Saints Jauá OCEAN
without the cloak of my own language and cul-
ture. My sojourn in Arembepe would be my
Salvador Itapoan
fi rst trip outside the United States. I was an ur- 13°00"S
Itaparica
ban boy who had grown up in Atlanta, Georgia, Island 0 10 20 mi
and New York City. I had little experience with 0 10 20 km
rural life in my own country, none with Latin
38°30"w 38°00"W
America, and I had received only minimal train-
ing in the Portuguese language. FIGURE 3.1 Location of Arembepe, Bahia, Brazil.
take part in many events and processes we are godfather to a village girl. Most anthropologists
observing and trying to comprehend. By partici- have similar fi eld experiences. The common hu-
pating, we may learn why people fi nd such manity of the student and the studied, the eth-
events meaningful, as we see how they are orga- nographer and the research community, makes
nized and conducted. participant observation inevitable.
In Arembepe, Brazil, I learned about fi shing
by sailing on the Atlantic with local fi shers. I Conversation, Interviewing,
gave Jeep rides to malnourished babies, to preg-
and Interview Schedules
nant mothers, and once to a teenage girl pos-
sessed by a spirit. All those people needed to Participating in local life means that ethnogra-
consult specialists outside the village. I danced phers constantly talk to people and ask questions.
on Arembepe’s festive occasions, drank liba- As their knowledge of the local language and
tions commemorating new births, and became a culture increases, they understand more. There
52 PART 1 Introduction to Anthropology
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passed previously. A crowd of children had
heard us coming, and they pursued our car
through the village streets until we parked in
front of our house, near the central square. Our
fi rst few days in Arembepe were spent with chil-
dren following us everywhere. For weeks we
had few moments of privacy. Children watched
our every move through our living room win-
dow. Occasionally one made an incomprehen-
sible remark. Usually they just stood there . . .
The sounds, sensations, sights, smells, and
tastes of life in northeastern Brazil, and in Arem-
bepe, slowly grew familiar . . . I grew accustomed
to this world without Kleenex, in which globs of
mucus habitually drooped from the noses of vil-
lage children whenever a cold passed through
Arembepe. A world where, seemingly without ef-
fort, women . . . carried 18-liter kerosene cans of
water on their heads, where boys sailed kites
Conrad Kottak, with his Brazilian nephew Guilherme Roxo, on a revisit to Arembepe in 2004. and sported at catching housefl ies in their bare
hands, where old women smoked pipes, store-
meats and fl oating pieces of skin. Coffee was who have studied remote tribes in the tropical keepers offered cachaça (common rum) at nine
strong and sugar crude, and every tabletop forests of interior South America or the high- in the morning, and men played dominoes on
had containers for toothpicks and for manioc lands of Papua New Guinea, I did not have to lazy afternoons when there was no fi shing. I was
(cassava) fl our to sprinkle, like Parmesan cheese, hike or ride a canoe for days to arrive at my visiting a world where human life was oriented
on anything one might eat. I remember oatmeal fi eld site. Arembepe was not isolated relative to toward water—the sea, where men fi shed, and
soup and a slimy stew of beef tongue in toma- such places, only relative to every other place I the lagoon, where women communally washed
toes. At one meal a disintegrating fi sh head, had ever been. . . . clothing, dishes, and their own bodies.
eyes still attached, but barely, stared up at me as I do recall what happened when we arrived.
the rest of its body fl oated in a bowl of bright There was no formal road into the village. Enter-
This description is adapted from my ethnographic
orange palm oil. . . . ing through southern Arembepe, vehicles sim-
study Assault on Paradise: The Globalization of a Lit-
I only vaguely remember my fi rst day in ply threaded their way around coconut trees,
tle Community in Brazil, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-
Arembepe (Figure 3.1). Unlike ethnographers following tracks left by automobiles that had Hill, 2006).
are several stages in learning a fi eld language. I attempted to complete an interview schedule in
First is the naming phase—asking name after each of Arembepe’s 160 households. We entered
name of the objects around us. Later we are able almost every household (fewer than 5 percent
to pose more complex questions and understand refused to participate) to ask a set of questions
the replies. We begin to understand simple con- on a printed form. Our results provided us with
versations between two villagers. If our language a census and basic information about the village.
expertise proceeds far enough, we eventually be- We wrote down the name, age, and gender of
come able to comprehend rapid-fi re public dis- each household member. We gathered data on
cussions and group conversations. family type, religion, present and previous jobs,
One data-gathering technique I have used in income, expenditures, diet, possessions, and
both Arembepe and Madagascar involves an many other items on our eight-page form.
ethnographic survey that includes an interview Although we were doing a survey, our ap-
schedule. In 1964, my fellow fi eld workers and proach differed from the survey research design
Chapter 3 Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology 53
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routinely used by sociologists and other social we wanted detailed information about local child-
scientists working in large, industrial nations. birth. Another woman had done an internship in
That survey research, discussed below, involves an Afro-Brazilian cult (candomblé) in the city. She
sampling (choosing a small, manageable study still went there regularly to study, dance, and get
group from a larger population). We did not select possessed. She became our candomblé expert.
a partial sample from the total population. In- Thus, our interview schedule provided a
stead, we tried to interview in all households in structure that directed but did not confi ne us as
the community (that is, to have a total sample). researchers. It enabled our ethnography to be
We used an interview schedule rather than a both quantitative and qualitative. The quantita-
interview schedule questionnaire. With the interview schedule, the tive part consisted of the basic information we
Form (guide) used to ethnographer talks face-to-face with people, asks gathered and later analyzed statistically. The
structure a formal, but the questions, and writes down the answers. qualitative dimension came from our follow-up
personal, interview. Questionnaire procedures tend to be more indi- questions, open-ended discussions, pauses for
rect and impersonal; often the respondent fi lls in gossip, and work with key consultants.
questionnaire
the form.
Form used by sociolo-
Our goal of getting a total sample allowed us
gists to obtain compara- The Genealogical Method
to meet almost everyone in the village and
ble information from
helped us establish rapport. Decades later, Arem- As ordinary people, many of us learn about our
respondents.
bepeiros still talk warmly about how we were own ancestry and relatives by tracing our gene-
interested enough in them to visit their homes alogies. Various computer programs now allow
and ask them questions. We stood in sharp con- us to trace our “family tree” and degrees of
genealogical trast to the other outsiders the villagers had relationship. The genealogical method is a well-
method known, who considered them too poor and back- established ethnographic technique. Early eth-
Using diagrams and ward to be taken seriously. nographers developed notation and symbols to
symbols to record kin Like other survey research, however, our inter- deal with kinship, descent, and marriage. Gene-
connections. view schedule did gather comparable quantifi - alogy is a prominent building block in the social
able information. It gave us a basis for assessing organization of nonindustrial societies, where
patterns and exceptions in village life. Our sched- people live and work each day with their close
ules included a core set of questions that were kin. Anthropologists need to collect genealogical
posed to everyone. However, some interesting data to understand current social relations and
side issues often came up during the interview, to reconstruct history. In many nonindustrial so-
which we would pursue then or later. We followed cieties, kin links are basic to social life. Anthro-
key cultural
such leads into many dimensions of village life. pologists even call such cultures “kin-based
consultant
Expert on a particular One woman, for instance, a midwife, became the societies.” Everyone is related and spends most
aspect of local life. key cultural consultant we sought out later when of his or her time with relatives. Rules of behav-
ior attached to particular kin relations are basic
to everyday life (see Carsten 2004). Marriage also
is crucial in organizing nonindustrial societies
because strategic marriages between villages,
tribes, and clans create political alliances.
Key Cultural Consultants
Every community has people who by accident,
experience, talent, or training can provide the
most complete or useful information about par-
ticular aspects of life. These people are key cul-
tural consultants, also called key informants. In
Ivato, the Betsileo village in Madagascar where I
spent most of my time, a man named Rakoto was
particularly knowledgeable about village history.
However, when I asked him to work with me on
a genealogy of the fi fty to sixty people buried in
the village tomb, he called in his cousin Tues-
daysfather, who knew more about that subject.
Tuesdaysfather had survived an epidemic of in-
fl uenza that ravaged Madagascar, along with
much of the world, around 1919. Immune to the
Kinship and descent are vital social building blocks in nonindustrial cultures. disease himself, Tuesdaysfather had the grim job
Without writing, genealogical information may be preserved in material culture, of burying his kin as they died. He kept track of
such as this totem pole being raised in Metlakatla, Alaska. everyone buried in the tomb. Tuesdaysfather
54 PART 1 Introduction to Anthropology
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helped me with the tomb genealogy. Rakoto
joined him in telling me personal details about
the deceased villagers.
Life Histories
In nonindustrial societies as in our own, indi-
vidual personalities, interests, and abilities vary.
Some villagers prove to be more interested in the
ethnographer’s work and are more helpful, inter-
esting, and pleasant than others are. Anthropolo-
gists develop likes and dislikes in the fi eld as we
do at home. Often, when we fi nd someone unusu-
ally interesting, we collect his or her life history.
This recollection of a lifetime of experiences
provides a more intimate and personal cultural
portrait than would be possible otherwise. Life
histories, which may be recorded or videotaped
for later review and analysis, reveal how spe-
cifi c people perceive, react to, and contribute to
changes that affect their lives. Such accounts can Anthropologists such as Christie Kiefer typically form personal relationships
illustrate diversity, which exists within any com- with their cultural consultants, such as this Guatemalan weaver.
munity, since the focus is on how different people
interpret and deal with some of the same prob-
lems. Many ethnographers include the collection and considers important. As a trained scientist, life history
of life histories as an important part of their re- the ethnographer should try to bring an objective Of a key consultant;
search strategy. and comprehensive viewpoint to the study of a personal portrait of
other cultures. Of course, the ethnographer, like someone’s life in a
Local Beliefs and Perceptions, any other scientist, is also a human being with culture.
cultural blinders that prevent complete objectiv-
and the Ethnographer’s
ity. As in other sciences, proper training can re-
One goal of ethnography is to discover local (na- duce, but not totally eliminate, the observer’s
tive) views, beliefs, and perceptions, which may bias. But anthropologists do have special training
be compared with the ethnographer’s own obser- to compare behavior between different societies.
vations and conclusions. In the fi eld, ethnogra- What are some examples of emic versus etic
phers typically combine two research strategies, perspectives? Consider our holidays. For North
the emic (native-oriented) and the etic (scientist- Americans, Thanksgiving Day has special signifi -
oriented). These terms, derived from linguistics, cance. In our view (emically) it is a unique cul-
have been applied to ethnography by various an- tural celebration that commemorates particular
thropologists. Marvin Harris (1968/2001) popu- historical themes. But a wider, etic, perspective
larized the following meanings of the terms: An sees Thanksgiving as just one more example of
emic approach investigates how local people the postharvest festivals held in many societies. emic
think. How do they perceive and categorize the Another example: Local people (including many Research strategy focus-
world? What are their rules for behavior? What Americans) may believe that chills and drafts ing on local explanations
has meaning for them? How do they imagine and cause colds, which scientists know are caused by and meanings.
explain things? Operating emically, the ethnogra- germs. In cultures that lack the germ theory of
pher seeks the “native viewpoint,” relying on lo- disease, illnesses are emically explained by vari-
cal people to explain things and to say whether ous causes, ranging from spirits to ancestors to
something is signifi cant or not. The term cultural witches. Illness refers to a culture’s (emic) percep- cultural consultants
consultant, or informant, refers to individuals the tion and explanation of bad health, whereas dis- People who teach an
ethnographer gets to know in the fi eld, the people ease refers to the scientifi c (etic) explanation of ethnographer about
who teach him or her about their culture, who poor health, involving known pathogens. their culture.
provide the emic perspective. Ethnographers typically combine emic and etic
The etic (scientist-oriented) approach shifts the strategies in their fi eld work. The statements, per- etic
focus from local observations, categories, expla- ceptions, categories, and opinions of local people Research strategy
nations, and interpretations to those of the an- help ethnographers understand how cultures emphasizing the ethnog-
thropologist. The etic approach realizes that work. Local beliefs are also interesting and valu- rapher’s explanations
members of a culture often are too involved in able in themselves. However, people often fail to and categories.
what they are doing to interpret their cultures im- admit, or even recognize, certain causes and con-
partially. Operating etically, the ethnographer sequences of their behavior. This is as true of North
emphasizes what he or she (the observer) notices Americans as it is of people in other societies.
Chapter 3 Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology 55
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Problem-Oriented Ethnography local consultants may be as mystifi ed as we are
by the exercise of power from regional, national,
Although anthropologists are interested in the
and international centers.
whole context of human behavior, it is impossible
to study everything. Most ethnographers now en-
ter the fi eld with a specifi c problem to investigate, Longitudinal Research
and they collect data relevant to that problem (see Geography limits anthropologists less now than
Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein 2007; Kutsche 1998). in the past, when it could take months to reach a
Local people’s answers to questions are not the fi eld site and return visits were rare. New systems
only data source. Anthropologists also gather in- of transportation allow anthropologists to widen
formation on factors such as population density, the area of their research and to return repeatedly.
environmental quality, climate, physical geogra- Ethnographic reports now routinely include data
longitudinal research phy, diet, and land use. Sometimes this involves from two or more fi eld stays. Longitudinal re-
Long-term study, usually direct measurement—of rainfall, temperature, search is the long-term study of a community, re-
based on repeated visits. fi elds, yields, dietary quantities, or time allocation gion, society, culture, or other unit, usually based
(Bailey 1990; Johnson 1978). Often it means that on repeated visits.
we consult government records or archives. One example of such research is the longitu-
The information of interest to ethnographers dinal study of Gwembe District, Zambia (see
is not limited to what local people can and do tell Figure 3.2). This study, planned in 1956 as a lon-
us. In an increasingly interconnected and com- gitudinal project by Elizabeth Colson and Thayer
plicated world, local people lack knowledge Scudder, continues with Colson, Scudder, and
about many factors that affect their lives. Our their associates of various nationalities. Thus, as
is often the case with longitudinal research, the
Gwembe study also illustrates team research—
coordinated research by multiple ethnographers
(Colson and Scudder 1975; Scudder and Colson
1980). Four villages, in different areas, have been
followed for more than fi ve decades. Periodic vil-
lage censuses provide basic data on population,
economy, kinship, and religious behavior. Cen-
sused people who have moved are traced and in-
terviewed to see how their lives compare with
those of people who have stayed in the villages.
A series of different research questions has
30°W
L. Tanganyika emerged, while basic data on communities and
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L Sumbawanga tric dam, which subjected the Gwembe people to
L. Mweru forced resettlement. The dam also spurred road
Mbala
Nchelenge Mporokoso Mbeya building and other activities that brought the
DEM. REP. NORTHERN
10°S Dilolo Kolwezi OFL iTkHasEi CONLuGfiraO Luapula LUMAPaUnLsaA L.K BaasanmgCwahaeumlbueshiIMstos.ka L. N1y0a°sSa living anthropology VIDEOS
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Za SOUTHERN Gwembe Tete less severe now than they were in the past. Compare
Seshmebkezei ChLo. mKaariba the time it took to reach the fi eld in 1957 with the
more recent trip shown in the clip. There is evidence
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FIGURE 3.2 Location of Gwembe in Zambia this connection was fi rst proposed?
56 PART 1 Introduction to Anthropology
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people of Gwembe more closely in touch with the Brazilian and American researchers worked
rest of Zambia. In subsequent research Scudder with us on team research projects during the 1980s
and Colson (1980) examined how education pro- (on television’s impact) and the 1990s (on ecologi-
vided access to new opportunities as it also wid- cal awareness and environmental risk percep-
ened a social gap between people with different tion). Graduate students from the University of
educational levels. A third study then examined a Michigan have drawn on our baseline information
change in brewing and drinking patterns, includ- from the 1960s as they have studied various top-
ing a rise in alcoholism, in relation to changing ics in Arembepe. In 1990 Doug Jones, a Michigan
markets, transportation, and exposure to town student doing biocultural research, used Arem-
values (Colson and Scudder 1988). bepe as a fi eld site to investigate standards of
physical attractiveness. In 1996–1997, Janet Dunn
Team Research studied family planning and changing female re-
productive strategies. Chris O’Leary, who fi rst
As mentioned, longitudinal research often is team
visited Arembepe in summer 1997, investigated a
research. My own fi eld site of Arembepe, Brazil,
striking aspect of religious change there—the ar-
for example, fi rst entered the world of anthropol-
rival of Protestantism; his dissertation (O’Leary
ogy as a fi eld-team village in the 1960s. It was one
2002) research then examined changing food
of four sites for the now defunct Columbia-
h abits and nutrition in relation to globalization.
Cornell-Harvard-Illinois Summer Field Studies
Arembepe is thus a site where various fi eld work-
Program in Anthropology. For at least three years,
ers have worked as members of a longitudinal
that program sent a total of about twenty under-
team. The more recent researchers have built on
graduates annually, the author included, to do
prior contacts and fi ndings to increase knowledge
brief summer research abroad. We were stationed
about how local people meet and manage new
in rural communities in four countries: Brazil,
circumstances.
Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. See this chapter’s
“Appreciating Diversity” on pp. 52–53 for infor-
mation on how a novice undergraduate ethnogra- Culture, Space, and Scale
pher perceived Arembepe. The previous sections on longitudinal and team
Since my wife, Isabel Wagley-Kottak, and I be- research illustrate an important shift in cultural
gan studying it in 1962, Arembepe has become a anthropology. Traditional ethnographic research
longitudinal fi eld site. Three generations of re- focused on a single community or “culture,”
searchers have monitored various aspects of which was treated as more or less isolated and
change and development. The community has unique in time and space. The shift has been to-
changed from a village into a town and illustrates ward recognition of ongoing and inescapable
the process of globalization at the local level. Its fl ows of people, technology, images, and informa-
economy, religion, and social life have been trans- tion. The study of such fl ows and linkages is now
formed (see Kottak 2006). part of the anthropological analysis. And, refl ect-
ing today’s world—in which people, images, and
information move about as never before—fi eld
work must be more fl exible and on a larger scale.
Ethnography is increasingly multitimed and mul-
tisited. Malinowski could focus on Trobriand cul-
ture and spend most of his fi eld time in a
particular community. Nowadays we cannot af-
ford to ignore, as Malinowski did, the “outsiders”
who increasingly impinge on the places we study
(e.g., migrants, refugees, terrorists, warriors, tour-
ists, developers). Integral to our analyses now are
the external organizations and forces (e.g., gov-
ernments, businesses, nongovernmental organi-
zations) laying claim to land, people, and resources
throughout the world. Also important is increased
recognition of power differentials and how they
affect cultures, and of the importance of diversity
within culture and societies.
The anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn (1944)
saw a key public service role for anthropology. It
could provide a “scientifi c basis for dealing with
Janet Dunn, one of many anthropologists who have the crucial dilemma of the world today: how can
worked in Arembepe. Where is Arembepe, and what peoples of different appearance, mutually unin-
kinds of research have been done there? telligible languages, and dissimilar ways of life
Chapter 3 Method and Theory in Cultural Anthropology 57
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get along peaceably together.” Many anthropolo- correctly cite the “characteristically anthropo-
gists never would have chosen their profession logical emphasis on daily routine and lived
had they doubted that anthropology had the ca- experience” (1997a, p. 5). The treatment of com-
pacity to enhance human welfare. Because we munities as discrete entities may be a thing of
live in a world full of failed states, war, and terror- the past. However, “anthropology’s traditional
ism, we must consider the proper role of anthro- attention to the close observation of particular
pologists in studying such phenomena. As we see lives in particular places” (Gupta and Ferguson
in this chapter’s “Appreciating Anthropology,” 1997b, p. 25) has an enduring importance. The
the American Anthropological Association deems method of close observation helps distinguish
it of “paramount importance” that anthropolo- cultural anthropology from sociology and sur-
gists study the roots of terrorism and violence. vey research, to which we now turn.
How exactly should this be done, and what are
potential risks to anthropologists and the people
they study? Read “Appreciating Anthropology”
SURVEY RESEARCH
for some answers and for a discussion of the com-
plexity of these questions. As anthropologists work increasingly in large-scale
Like many other topics addressed by contem- societies, they have developed innovative ways of
porary anthropology, war and terrorism would blending ethnography and survey research (Fricke
require multiple levels of analysis—local, re- 1994). Before examining such combinations of fi eld
gional, and international. It is virtually impossible methods, let’s consider survey research and the
in today’s world to fi nd local phenomena that are main differences between survey research and
isolated from global forces. ethnography. Working mainly in large, populous
In two volumes of essays edited by Akhil Gupta nations, sociologists, political scientists, and econ-
survey research and James Ferguson (1997a and 1997b), several an- omists have developed and refi ned the survey
The study of society thropologists describe problems in trying to locate research design, which involves sampling, im-
through sampling, statis- cultures in bounded spaces. John Durham Peters personal data collection, and statistical analysis.
tical analysis, and imper- (1997), for example, notes that, particularly because S urvey research usually draws a sample (a man-
sonal data collection. of the mass media, contemporary people simulta- ageable study group) from a much larger popu-
neously experience the local and the global. He de- lation. By studying a properly selected and
sample
scribes those people as culturally “bifocal”—both representative sample, social scientists can make
A smaller study group
“near-sighted” (seeing local events) and “far- accurate inferences about the larger population.
chosen to represent a
sighted” (seeing images from far away). Given In smaller-scale societies and communities,
larger population.
their “bifocality,” their interpretations of the local ethnographers get to know most of the people.
are always infl uenced by information from out- Given the greater size and complexity of nations,
side. Thus, their attitude about a clear blue sky survey research cannot help being more imper-
at home is tinged by their knowledge, through sonal. Survey researchers call the people they
weather reports, that a hurricane may be approach- study respondents. These are people who respond
ing. The national news may not at all fi t opinions to questions during a survey. Sometimes survey
voiced in local conversations, but national opin- researchers interview them personally. Some-
ions fi nd their way into local discourse. times, after an initial meeting, they ask respon-
The mass media, which anthropologists in- dents to fi ll out a questionnaire. In other cases
creasingly study, are oddities in terms of culture researchers mail or e-mail questionnaires to ran-
and space. Whose image and opinions are these? domly selected sample members or have paid as-
random sample What culture or community do they represent? sistants interview or telephone them. In a random
A sample in which all They certainly aren’t local. Media images and sample, all members of the population have an
population members messages fl ow electronically. TV brings them equal statistical chance of being chosen for inclu-
have an equal chance right to you. The Internet lets you discover new sion. A random sample is selected by randomiz-
of inclusion. cultural possibilities at the click of a mouse. The ing procedures, such as tables of random numbers,
Internet takes us to virtual places, but in truth, the which are found in many statistics textbooks.
electronic mass media are placeless phenomena, Probably the most familiar example of sam-
which are transnational in scope and play a role pling is the polling used to predict political races.
in forming and maintaining cultural identities. The media hire agencies to estimate outcomes and
Anthropological research today may take us do exit polls to fi nd out what kinds of people voted
traveling along with the people we study, as they for which candidates. During sampling, research-
move from village to city, cross the border, or ers gather information about age, gender, religion,
travel internationally on business. As we’ll see in occupation, income, and political party prefer-
variables the chapter “Global Issues Today,” ethnogra- ence. These characteristics (variables—attributes
Attributes that differ phers increasingly follow the people and images that vary among members of a sample or popula-
from one person or case they study. As fi eld work changes, with less and tion) are known to infl uence political decisions.
to the next. less of a spatially set fi eld, what can we take from Many more variables affect social identities,
traditional ethnography? Gupta and Ferguson experiences, and activities in a modern nation
58 PART 1 Introduction to Anthropology