January 26, 2011: Learning Journal 2

It really has been quite the week in developing my creative writing project in Dharamsala, India for this spring and summer field study.  In many ways I feel like I am experienced in what field work looks like, but at the same time this new project I am constructing is so different from what I was studying last summer in Ghana (looking at attitudes towards literature).

What I am most excited for is that unlike my experience in Ghana, McLeod Ganj will be less structured.  Before I was waking up everyday to go to school where sometimes my time was spent well, and other times it did not do much.  Because looking at the different stories that make up the community will be so much more broad, I will have the freedom to spend my time hunting down the stories that will be most meaningful to me.  Do not get me wrong, I think that structure is good in a variety of cases, but for me, this time I think that going with the snowball sampling is really going to be most beneficial.  At the same time, without that structure getting access to the community and finding my audience could be a lot trickier than it was in Ghana.

So here is where I am at.  After reading Emily Bell's project proposal and final project after doing a creative writing project in the same location I will be going to, I am confidant that this is what I want to be studying.  The most heartening thing I got from her papers was that the Dalai Lama has encouraged newcomers to the community to share their stories with the world.  In Emily's experience, Tibetans were more than willing to share their personal stories.  This is good news for me, but there are also others people dwelling in Dharamsala that I want to include in this portrait I am doing of the location.  I do not know how willing they will be to share their stories, and of course, ethics are going to be something I have to keep in mind the entire time.

Also, as far as my avatar method (different lenses and mediums I experiment with to show the nature of narrative), I will have a different experience this time around.  In Ghana, I had five that were looking at different aspects of my own personality.  The first three worked out really well.  They were a photographer, a romantic anthropologist, and a postmodern writer.  However, my native avatar and "experiencer" avatar were not quite so successful.  I think that my "experiencer" has some potential, I am just not sure what to do about it yet.  Here is a basic sketch of what avatars I think I will bring with me to McLeod Ganj, India.  I won't take them all, I just have to get my ideas out there.

The Photographer (though may need to do some modifications based on type of photography)
The Romantic Anthropologist (because someone needs to tackle the student portion of the project)
The Tourist (could be very effective, especially with being in a tourist community and being a foreigner myself)
The Postmodern Writer (someone with my own voice who will tell stories creatively)
The Poet (a new one! but I think it could be very viable)
The Experiencer (can I work it to make it worthwhile?)

Any other ideas out there?  I am so excited to get started!  Maybe a methods practice will be beneficial for me....