After hours and hours of work, I am finally posting my first honors prospectus draft! Right now I am most concerned that the digital media component does not makes sense. I know that earlier it was evident that I had two different projects, one about mode of delivery and one with creative writing, but do you think that what I am proposing adequately blends the two together? Should I stick to one or the other? I'd really appreciate some feedback.
A Portrait of Dharamsala:
A Creative Writing Thesis Prospectus Exploring the Universal Importance and Nature of Stories
by Rachel Rueckert
Purpose:
This prospectus is a continuation of the research I did in Ghana last summer on a field study exploring the nature of stories and the authenticity of travel experience. Based on my findings, I have decided to go on another field study to Dharamsala, India to follow up on some of my questions and gather material for a creative nonfiction project. There are two parts of this project I hope to accomplish:
First, I want to record stories from the population that makes up the unique city of Dharamsala, India through a collection of travel essays that focus on cultural anthropology. I hope to have a balanced blend between my personal experiences and the perspective of my informants, but the exact balance between the objective and subjective interpretations of my experience will be determined based on what material I gather. Ideally these essays could stand alone, but my presence and personal narration will tie the essays together.
My second aim is to learn more about the nature of stories and the writing process by keeping an academic blog while drafting my travel essays. This second account will highlight some of the limitations of my own subjective experience abroad to better understand the fragile nature of stories. It will also allow me to publish drafts and document my learning process so that I can improve the conventional writing process through digital media.
There are three goals I wish to accomplish through this creative project. First, I hope to help others learn more about Dharamsala and show that stories are universally important. Second, I want to encourage people to recognize stories within their proper context and scope. And third, I would also like to demonstrate how evolving digital media has enhanced the traditional creative writing process.
In order to put this in an academic context, I will demonstrate two things—why we need to tell stories, and second, that stories are inherently fragile and need to be understood within that limited context.
In order to understand why we need to tell stories, we have to understand that telling stories is a part of the human condition. There are plenty of examples of this. Hamlet’s dying wish to Horatio was not “please feed my cat when I am gone” or “don’t let Fortinbras take over the kingdom,” it was “if thou didst ever hold my in thy heart…tell my story” (Shakespeare 145). But why is telling Hamlet’s story so important to him? Margaret Atwood, a prominent Canadian writer, says that the reason why we need to tell stories is because “language is one of the most primary facts of our existence.” It is what sets us apart from animals. She also says that “we know that people learn and assimilate information much more through stories than they do through charts and graphs,” and it is how we find meaning in life (Atwood). Many others have picked up on this, including Christophor Booker, the author of Seven Basic Plots, who argues that no matter where you go, all stories comprise of seven basic plots—overcoming the monster, rags to rights, the quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, and rebirth. It is an inherent part of us to tell these kinds of stories.
If we look at another influential person more appropriate for the location I want to study, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the exiled Tibetan government, is a great believer in the importance of stories. In his autobiography we get a glimpse of his immense love for stories as a child and his vivid imagination (Dalai Lama 28). In another one of his books, The Art of Happiness, he says that through meditations, stories, and the meeting of Buddhism and psychology, we can learn to defeat day-to-day depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, or just an ordinary bad mood.
Emily Bell, a former field study student who constructed a creative writing project in Dharamsala in the spring/summer of 2010, had several insights that strengthened the argument that the Dalai Lama not only holds a special place for stories, but also encourages his people to tell them. Storytelling is one of the oldest and most universal forms of communication, a long standing tradition in humanity (Thomas), and it is definitely a prominent part of culture of Dharamsala. Emily was surprised by how "readily Tibetans will talk about their lives." She argues that it is from a sense of responsibility since the "Dalai Lama himself has encouraged all newcomers to share their experiences with the world" (Bell 3), something that was reiterated almost daily in her experience in Dharamsala. This gives me encouragement that I will be successful in finding people to share stories with me.
Not only does Emily’s experience and the Dalai Lama’s thoughts on stories make this a great location for my field study, but the unique diversity is also necessary for my project. In order to write my creative project, I need to have to interview a wide range of people from different backgrounds with varying motivations for being in Dharamsala. The goal of my project is to create a portrait of the diversity that exists in this community, and this is something very special and specific to this city that I could not necessarily find in other potential locations.
In addition to the human need to tell stories and the importance of this location to my project, storytelling is a method that has been acknowledged and encouraged more recently in qualitative research. In the book Method Meets Art, Patricia Leavy says that by doing arts-based research we can "bridge and not divide both the artistic-self and the researcher-self." There is a "profound relationship between the arts and sciences," and there are several viable reasons that more and more people are turning towards alternative methods (Leavy 2). Art-based research is more holistic—a new genre that "comprises new theoretical and epistemological groundings that are expanding the qualitative paradigm" (3). In many ways it can capture and represent what traditional research cannot, some of the most fundamental aspects of human experience. Additionally, there are "tremendous meaning-making and pedagogical capabilities" within this emerging genre. It is not merely used at the representation stage of research, but during all phases instead (4). This book also argues that this art based method looks more at how knowledge is a process, “a temporary state,” and that it is not linear. Rather, it is iterative, and meaning emerges through "labeling, identifying, and classifying emerging concepts and testing hypotheses; finding patterns; and generating theory." It helps us to look more at the process of meaning-making as well (9-10). It allows questions to be posed in different ways, promotes dialogue, raises new questions, and also reaches nonacademic audiences in a way that standard methodology cannot. Art-based research pays more attention to process, promotes dialogue, requires us to be more flexible, and it also crosses disciplines (18). Although this deviates from traditional research, it is certainly becoming a very useful tool that yields interesting and valuable results that are sometimes weeded out in the more traditional methods, and it is for these reasons that I want to use it.
The second part of this academic background that I need to establish is that although stories are an integral part of our human experience, they must be understood in their proper context as being limited interpretations of subjective truths. Whether these truths are more “truthful” than what really happened, we could find a copious amount of arguments stemming as far back as Aristotle’s Poetics, but truth is not what I am questioning here. I am more interested in authenticity. This is not to discredit the value of stories, but it should get us thinking about the problems of representation within narratives. My personal narrative that I will write alongside the process of gathering stories will look specifically at this issue.
Clifford Geertz, an extremely influential anthropologist, has an interesting take on representation in his book The Interpretation of Cultures. He says that all “anthropological writings are themselves interpretations” and “second to third ones to boot” (Geertz 15). We cannot be native or express a native point of view because of our lack of context. This is critical to understand for ethnography, travel literature, and any document that attempts to translate a foreign experience outside of the original context. “Thick Description,” perhaps the most influential chapter in his book, says that the more layers you add to ethnography, the more holistic your findings will be represented. This also applies to memoirs and creative nonfiction in general.
Nine Lives, a book that looks at nine very different individuals living across India, retells their stories in nine separate narratives. This book was the first one that really helped me to see how diverse India is and what kinds of people make up the unique population. The author was able to utilize “thick description” in a creative and meaningful way, and it is a model I want to emulate through my own creative writing project. Of course, we can never reach a perfectly authentic work, but I think that adding these different layers certainly increases the level authenticity.
Writing, however, is by no means the only limited medium of expression, and since photography will also be a part of my personal narrative (especially on my blog), it is important to establish the academic significance of this form of documentation. Diana L Eck in her book Darsan says that although the photography has “sometimes been claimed that the photograph is a kind of universal 'language,'” we should question that claim. “Every photograph and film raises the question of point-of-view and perspective—both that of the maker and that of the viewer." It also questions “meaning" and "obstruction," and that we have to understand the context to really know what is being represented. A picture may "be worth a thousand words, but still we need to know which thousand words" (Eck 16). Walter Benjamin, postmodern author of Illuminations, also claims that because a photograph is a problematic medium in and of itself simply because there is no original to refer to. He states that “the presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity” and that the translation has no regard or relation to the original, thus having no relationship to it (Benjamin 220).
From these accounts, we can see that not only is writing a limiting way in which we try to mediate our experiences, but that all other mediums, including photography, have the same short comings that must be properly understood. We have discussed why stories are so important to humanity, but without proper perspective we run into serious danger. My creative project will work to help people better understand the need to be skeptical of stories in general, while at the same time sharing some of those stories that make up a portrait of Dharamsala.
Methods and Procedures:
I will be addressing four things in this section. First, how I will gain access to the community and recruit my population, second, the conventional methods I plan to utilize, and third, a methodological approach to this project that my faculty mentor and I developed for my field study in Ghana last year. The last part of this section will discuss ethics and the IRB as it relates to this project.
First, I would like to look at my plans for access, recruitment, and the population I am looking at specifically. From my previous field study experience, I have learned that gaining entry in a community is not easy. It is not something you can guarantee or schedule out, but there are certainly things I can do to get out and try. Each day I will be going out into the community and exploring, ensuring that I am not spending too much time staying at home in a sphere of familiarity. Going out each day and walking around town will hopefully put me in the path of potential informants and also strengthen my observation skills. I will do all of my coursework in local hang outs and always try to have conversations with the people I encounter in Dharamsala. Some of these locations will likely be around the temple, at local restaurants, participating in Hindi lessons, attending religious ceremonies, shopping at the market, etc. I will recruit through convenience sampling.
After getting out into the community and identifying a few potential informants, I will then formally explain to them what it is I am doing in Dharamsala and my desire to collect personal stories from the people who make up this unique location. In order to determine if this individual will be a good potential informant, I will ease into some of my informal interview questions and see if they are willing and able to share their stories without reservation or placing an unnecessary burden on them and their daily responsibilities. I will try to establish sufficient rapport with each key informant so that I will be able to evaluate whether I would be requiring too much time from them to participate in my project.
As far as population, there is a large pool that I want to tap into. Like the book Nine Lives I previously mentioned, I want my travel essays to paint a portrait of the diversity found in Dharamsala by representing all kinds of different people who live and pass through there. Because of this aim, my subjects will be both male and female and anyone over the age of eighteen. This will include people like the backpackers passing through, monks and nuns, my host family, Tibetans—both those who were born in Dharamsala and those who immigrated there, and also the local Indian population .This is quite a varying population, but variety is exactly what I need in order to create this portrait of the diversity in Dharamsala. I recognize the importance of reciprocity, especially since I will not giving monetary compensation, but within my project I also realize that giving proper reciprocity will vary quite drastically, say, between a local monk and a European backpacker. I am also aware that these individuals are freely giving me their time and that I need to do something in return to show my appreciation. I will be very conscious of their generous contribution to my project. In the field I will determine different types of reciprocity that will cater to each of the unique populations I want to work with.
The second component of this section I need to address are the conventional methods I plan to utilize for this project. For my methods, I plan on using informal interviews and participant observation. Some of my questions will be asking them what they are doing in Dharamsala, what growing up was like, a favorite childhood story, or a description of a typical day in Dharamsala. A sample of some of these interview questions can be found in the Appendix B of this document. In order to find informants, I will make sure to go out every day and try to always meet new people.
Another important method I will be using will be participant observation of local activities and interactions in Dharamsala. I will always take a jotting notebook with me so that I can record the details I come across and also do creative writing exercises, such as character sketches. It is these small observations of detail that bring stories to life.
I will take also be doing daily field notes where I document the things I learned that day and flesh out some of my creative ideas. I will do this every night so that the information I learn can be recorded as accurately as possible while it is still fresh on my mind.
In additional to these traditional methods, the third point that needs to be addressed is a methodology of my own—my “avatar” approach. It is a method that my faculty mentor, Gideon Burton, and I created to challenge the authenticity of experience and conventional documentation. It is the method that I experimented with when I conducted my last field study in Ghana, Africa. I will essentially look at my experience with alternative personas and emphasize them on certain days in order to juxtapose my experience against some of the other mediums and viewpoints I utilize. It is just one way to generate the material needed to see the limitations of experience, and it also adds additional layers to my experience, which Geertz would argue makes it a better representation.
There will be three main avatars of myself, or lenses that I try to see my experience with while I am in Dharamsala. These approaches will be first, a postmodern travel writing approach, second, a romantic, student anthropologist, and third, a photographer. Each day I go out I will try and use these perspectives to see and document my experience. Having these different accounts, I can then juxtapose them in order to offer a more complex representation of my experience and also show how subjective this experience really is. These alternative personas will be the building blocks of my travel essays, and they will be fleshed out on my blog.
Ethics regarding this project is something I have had to take a considerable amount of time thinking about. I have submitted this project and have received IRB approval as “exempt research,” but I will still be mindful of these concerns by reminding informants that participation is voluntary and keeping their personal and identifying information confidential.
In summary, through convenience sampling I hope to access a very wide range of people for my creative project. I will using conventional methods, such as informal interview and participant observation, and also include my avatar method in order to further challenge the nature of experience and the authenticity of stories. As in all field work, there is a chance that I will encounter potential barriers—not gaining access, lacking key informants, losing documents, having a case of writers block, etc. I hope, however, that by including several different methods I will be able to combat these concerns to the best of my ability and rely on other aspects of my project to compensate for potential holes. All of these points combined will help me to fulfill my project purpose, which is to look at the importance of stories while at the same time recognizing them within their proper context and scope.
Preliminary Outline:
Because of the creative nature of my project, an exact outline is hard to predict. However, based on my current expectations and what I hope to accomplish, I hope to have two things:
First, I would like to have a conventional collection of travel essays, functioning independently but strung together with my presence and narration. It will begin with an introduction that prefaces the work, describes what the writing process and how digital media impacted my writing process, some of the limitations I encountered, and comment on my experience in the field as whole.
After the introduction I plan to have the first essay more personal in nature, introducing the reader to me, the narrator, and what some of my thoughts and experiences have been and how they have brought me to India to start with.
After the introduction I will have somewhere from four to seven essays. Each essay will be devoted to an experience interacting with a unique person in the community that represents a portion of the diversity that can be found in Dharamsala. With each of these characters and stories I encounter, I hope to devote an entire essay to exploring what their place is in this community and how their experience is related to my own.
The second part of my project that will be less linear in nature is my academic blog. This blog will document my learning process and help me to improve my traditional writing process by helping me to publish drafts along the way, receive immediate feedback, and allow me to connect with others with similar interests who can give me further direction in the writing process.
While there is no set structure to this blog, I do have a statement of intent connected to my field study project proposal as static pages on the site to give readers a basic understanding of what I am doing in India. I have also taken care to ensure that I have properly labeled each post so that information is easily found and organized for readers according to their own interests. Both in the field and after (while I am still drafting my essays), I will be publishing to my blog three times a week. I will also work on connecting with more people with similar interests to try and get more live feedback and enhance the writing process in general.
Qualifications of the Investigator:
As an undergraduate student, my qualifications are limited. However, I have already completed a successful field study on a similar topic in Ghana, Africa during the spring/summer of 2010. I have also taken the field study prep class (IAS 360R) in order to prepare me for this new project. This preparation course taught me a number of things, including how to ask descriptive questions, the importance of proper reciprocity, how to gain access to a community, the role of ethics in my project, how to recognize and handle culture shock, etc.
For my anthropology minor I have several introductory courses. In addition to that, most applicable to this project is my Peoples of India course (ANTHR 335) which has helped me to understand some of the basic cultural practices and beliefs in India, including Dharamsala where I will be spending the majority of my time.
As an English major, I have taken all of my foundational English classes which have given me the skills of a good writer. I have also taken Travel Writing (ENGL 306), which looked at some of the styles and ethics of travel documentation, as well as Creative Writing (ENGL 218R), which helped me to craft my own creative writing style. In the field I will also be taking Creative Nonfiction (ENGL 317R) through my faculty advisor. In addition, I have had extensive writing practice through maintaining an academic blog of my experience in Ghana, as well as through daily journal writing.
An important component to my academic blog will be photography. I am a professional photographer with years of practice with the medium. My experiences photographing in Ghana last year also helped me to see some of the ethics that come with photography, such as some of the problems of representation, appropriate reciprocity, authenticity, etc. I will be sure to apply these lessons to my photographing experience in Dharamsala.
Qualifications of the Advisor:
Forthcoming. Is this just the advisor or also the referee?
Timeline:
From January to April 2011 I was enrolled in a field study preparation class where I crafted my project, developing my field study proposal, and received IRB approval. I will be collecting material for my project for just over 90 days, arriving in Delhi on May 3rd and leaving on August 16th, although the first and last week will be devoted to setting up the program and traveling. Each night I will do extensive field notes—including creative writing exercises for a foundation to my essay drafts, and I will post three times a week to my academic blog. Other than these weekly goals, here is what I plan on doing within this time frame.
· Week 1, May 15- 21: Explore the community, map out potential places to interact with others and practice participant observation. Meet host family.
· Week 2, May 22-28: Explore the community, map out potential places to interact with others and practice participant observation
· Week 3, May 29- June 4: 1 Informal interview and participant observation, preliminary draft of first essay
· Week 4, June 5-11: 1 Informal interview and participant observation,
· Week 5, June 12-18: 1 Informal interview and participant observation
· Week 6, June 19-25: 1 Informal interview and participant observation, preliminary draft of second essay
· Week 7, June 26- July 2: Mid semester retreat to Amritsar
· Week 8, July 3-9: 1 Informal interview and participant observation
· Week 9, July 10-16: 1 Informal interview and participant observation, preliminary draft of third essay
· Week 10, July 17-23: 1 Informal interview and participant observation
· Week 11, July 24-30: 1 Informal interview and participant observation
· Week 12, July 31- August 6: 1 Informal interview and participant observation, preliminary draft of fourth essay
· Week 13, August 7-13: Prepare to leave, say goodbyes, ensure all reciprocity has been seen to, and tie up all lose ends
I will return from the field August 23, 2011. Most of my coursework, such as my preliminary drafts, field notes, reading journals, etc. will be due by the beginning of October. I will write my honors thesis in an advanced writing class, Writing the Honors Thesis (HONRS 300R), and I will polish my creative project in Writing a Novel (HONRS 301R). The coursework for these classes will be due by December 15th, 2011.
This will also be the time that I turn in my honors portfolio, which is due January 15, 2012. I plan to defend this thesis during the winter semester by March 1st, and my final four thesis copies will need to be submitted by March 8th. I will also be presenting my findings at the BYU Inquiry conference in March, 2012. I will graduate in April, 2012.
Budget:
Since I am going to India as a field facilitator for the ISP Field Studies Program, some of my costs will be covered, such as airfare, in country transportation to set up the program, the mid semester retreat, and communication for the program. However, there are still several expenses I am responsible for. These costs have been converted to USD from rupees at the current exchange rate as of May 2011, which is 44 rupees to one USD.
· Airfare ($1,400, covered by Field Studies Program)
· BYU tuition (ten credit hours/semester, covered by BYU academic scholarship)
· HTH Travel Insurance ($120, already paid)
· Passport and Visa ($200, already paid)
· Vaccinations (already received from Ghana field study last year)
· Rent to live with Tibetan host family ($9.09 a night, adding up to $818.18 for the full 90 days)
· Food costs (averaging at $3 each day, for 90 days this will cost $270)
· In-country Travel ($150-$200)
· Internet and communication costs ($90-$150)
· Cultural activities, language and Buddhist classes at the library, etc ($300-$400)
· Reciprocity ($50-$100)
· Field Study application fee ($25, already paid)
· Field Study acceptance fee ($100, already paid)
Total Costs: $3,383 plus a semester of tuition
Total Unpaid Costs: $1,938
As far as budget goes, I do not have means to pay my informants. I will not give money compensation, which means I must be careful to ensure that my subjects are willing and able to volunteer so that I am not a burden to them. I will be mindful of their generous contribution and offer proper reciprocity, in ways other than money, which can hopefully show my gratitude.
Closure:
I am very excited about this project, in fact, I have already started. While there may be very many limitations before me, I am looking forward to working through them and learning from this unique opportunity. Whether or not this prospectus is approved, it is already something I will do for my field study. My hope is that I can refine my travel writings and make my learning experience even better if I can also make it my honors thesis. I look forward to improving my writing and learning more about creative nonfiction and academic blogging. I am also excited to work on my research skills and have a life changing experience from the things I learn from the people in Dharamsala.
Works Cited:
Bell, Emily. “Structure and Identity: A Personal Examination of Universal Narrative.” Final Field Study Paper.Brigham Young University. 2010.
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1968. Print.
Booker, Christopher. Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. New York: Continuum, 2006. Print.
Dalrymple, William. Nine Lives In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. New York: Borzoi Book, 2009. Print.
Eck, Diana L. Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Print.
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books Inc., 1975. Print.
Gyatso, Tenzin. Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama: New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. Print.
Lama, Dalai. The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living: New York: Riverhead Books, 1998. Print.
Leavy, Patricia. Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice: New York: The Guilford Press, 2009. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Batman Books, 1980. Print.
Thomas, Charlton. Thinking About Oral History Theories and Applications. New York: AltaMira, 2007. Print.
Why We Tell Stories. Big Think. Creative Commons, 21 Sept. 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2011. http://bigthink.com/ideas/24259
Appendix A: IRB
(Copy of approval letter)
Complete IRB application is available upon request.
Appendix B: Sample of potential informal interview questions:
· What are you doing in Dharamsala?
· What is it that you like/don’t like about Dharamsala?
· What were some of the events in your life that made you who you are today?
· What is your family like?
· What was the city you grew up in like?
· Can you give me an example of what an average day looks like for you?
· Do you have a favorite story?
· What do you think makes you different than the other people who are in Dharamsala?
· Where will you go from here?
· How do you want people to remember you?
Appendix C: URL of Blog
The URL for my India blog is www.rachelspassagetoindia.blogspot.com. Previous work on this topic can also be found on my Ghana blog (www.obrunithroughghana.blogspot.com).
Appendix D: Working Annotated Bibliography
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1968. Print.
This book brings up some great theoretical problems associated with the medium of photography in terms of authenticity. It is especially relevant to me when I am trying to do photographic representation of the people in Dharamsala. It also brings up an interesting argument about the necessity of having an “original” as a prerequisite to authenticity, which can be applied to travel experience in general beyond the photograph. His ideas greatly influenced my project in Ghana, and still show up in this one.
This source talked about the concept of universal narrative and why it is so quintessentially human. It was heavily cited, which caught my attention. It taught me that there are many similarities between basic plot lines no matter where in the world you find stories. The seven plots Booker rallies around are overcoming the monster, rags to rights, the quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, and rebirth. Booker also says that it does not take us long after we start talking to begin demanding stories, which is evidence of our innate appetite for them. For the project I am proposing, it is necessary to have a few sources like this to justify going into the field at all.
Clandinin, Jean.D, and Michael F. Connelly. Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Print.
This was a great source about the importance of storytelling in academia. There are a lot of ways to approach stories, but this book was highly sited and helped me to be better understand one way of doing that—through narrative inquiry. It looks at storytelling as a qualitative research method. The two authors look at how narrative deepens our understanding of an educational experience and how they can be seen as a model for intellectual courage within an individual.
Dalrymple, William. Nine Lives In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. New York: Borzoi Book, 2009. Print.
Nine Lives was one of the leading sources that inspired this project. I read it in my Peoples of India class and was immediately taken with the idea of creating a portrait of India through several unique and personal stories from people all over the country. This made me decide to do something similar but on the smaller scale—Dharamsala, India.
Delattre, Pierre. Tales of a Dalai Lama: Standpoint: Lost Horse Press, 1999. Print.
This was a fun, but pretty didactic source, packed with cautionary tales. I enjoyed it and found it relivant to my project because it showed me that Tibetan people have a history of storytelling and that it is still valuable to them. This was something I struggled finding when I did my research in Ghana. This book in particular also gave me some religious insights into Tibetan Buddhism, and referred me to other religious texts I can follow up on.
Diehl, Keila. Echoes from Dharamsala: Music in the Life of a Tibetan Refugee Community: Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. Print.
This source is from about an ethnographer who looks specifically at how music impacts life in refugee settlements. It caught my eye because it is about the exact city I will be going to. It helped me learn more about the location—especially with how tourist based it is. At first this was discouraging to me, but hearing the author’s enthusiasm about the kinds of creative processes still going in Dharamsala inspired me to go there instead of South India.
Dukada, Shiho. "Life in Exile in Dharmsala" Photoshelter. 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
This is a photojournalist blog by Ed Wrong and Shiho Fukada from the New York Times. This post was dedicated to representing Dharamsala. It was nice to see what kinds of photographs are possible and to see the location I will be going to from a more artistic angle. It also commented a little bit on equipment, which helped me prepare what camera I was ultimately going to take into the field.
Eck, Diana L. Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Print.
This is another source that looks specifically at India. The word darsan means “to see” in Sanskrit, and more specifically about “seeing the divine image” and its importance in Hindu worship. I was interested in this book because of the limitations she identified about visual representation, saying that “it has been sometimes been claimed that the photography is a kind of universal language, but our reflections here make us question such a claim. Every photography and film raises the question of point-of-view and perspective—both that of the maker and that of the viewer.” It also “raises the question of meaning” and of “obstruction.” Even if a picture may “be worth a thousand words,” we still “need to know which thousand words” (16). This relates well to the photography component of my project.
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books Inc., 1975. Print.
This has been a foundational source for me for both this project and during Ghana. Talking about layers of interpretation and the importance of representing cultures with those dimensions is what fueled my desire to work with alternative personas. I tend to think it adds a lot of the authenticity of a work when these layers are present.
Grisham, Thomas. "Metaphor, Poetry, Storytelling and Cross-Cultural Leadership." Management Decision 44.4 (2006): 486-503. Print.
This source looks specifically at the Dalai Lama and his how storytelling may have contributed to his ability to lead his people. The article talks about the theory and benefits of poetry, storytelling, and metaphor when applied to cross-cultural leadership. It brings up examples and connections based on experience, and looks specifically at how these tools can be utilized by a leader to have good leadership skills and inspire people.
Gyatso, Tenzin. Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama: New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. Print.
As my friend and formal field study student Emily Bell suggested, I read this autobiography of the 14th Dalai Lama to better understand why he is so insistent that Tibetans tell their stories with the rest of the world. I learned a lot of personal things about him (including his love for stories as a young boy), Tibetan culture, but also that there is a lot of value to hearing a personal story rather than simply reading about the Tibetan situation. It is more moving, and thus more powerful.
This little quote book is filled with lots of insights on Tibetan Buddhism. I read a page a night while preparing for this project, and I felt that I was able to learn more about some of the similarities and differences between Buddhists and my own tradition because this book outlined practical examples. It will help me to ask better questions and to be more informed of the peoples beliefs in Dharamsala.
Leavy, Patricia. Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice: New York: The Guilford Press, 2009. Print.
This has been one of my favorite sources as far as justifying the need for my kind of project. It is the kind of source I feel like I have been looking for ever since I started doing field studies and made it to the “methods and procedures” section of a proposal. It is a source for people “for whom these research conventions make what was once a passion start to feel more like a job” (1). It argues that by doing arts-based research we can “bridge and not divide both the artistic-self and the researcher-self” because there is a “profound relationship between the arts and sciences,” which it went on to say (2). It brings up some of the many benefits of art-based research by looking at “knowledge as a process, a temporary state” (9) and not necessarily linear. It is iterative, and helps us learn more about the process of meaning making (10).
This is one of the textbooks for my Creative Nonfiction (ENGL 317R) course. It is packed with personal essays all throughout history and has given me some great models to follow as I craft my own essays.
This interview with Margaret Atwood helped me to learn more about narrative theory, and specifically why the art of storytelling is so universally important. In this interview, Atwood says that one reason why we tell stories is because “language is one of the most primary facts of our existence.” It is what sets us apart from all other animals. “We know that people learn and assimilate information much more through stories than they do through charts and graphs.” This is precisely why I want to present my findings in Dharamsala through storytelling rather than strictly anthropological analysis. It seems more influential and interesting to a broader audience that way.
Way to go, Rachel. Your blog/thesis, etc has been fascinating to read. To "BE" or not to "BE", that is the question. In your thesis, you left out the word "BE" two times. "I will not (BE) giving proper reciprocity....". The other one is "I will (BE) using conventional methods such as informal interviews....". I know the thesis is just a draft, but the perfection in me wanted you to know. We love you and pray for your success. Love, Grandma and Grandpa
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! It is funny what you can just skip over. I made the changes. :) Thanks for the love and support.
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