February 16, 2011: Learning Journal 5

I feel like so much has happened this week I do not even know where to begin.  I think I say that every week, but this time for real!  I think that the most interesting part of the week was putting together my project proposal draft.  It seems like it has been so long since I have dusted off the process, but I was happy that the second time around was much easier than the first time I wrote a project proposal.  I understand how everything works together now, which is helpful.  By drafting it I was also able to see where I need more work.  My methods section is taking forever to write, but I think I know what I want to say, but my literature review is a disaster.  I am having a hard time transitioning between the different sources I have found.  I may need to spend more time in the library.

I am really excited about the new sources I found though.  The book Method Meets Art by Patricia Leavy that Jay recommended was particularly useful.  It is something I have felt for the longest time but until now I had never seen any literature that could argue and articulate what it is I like to do on field studies with more artistic methods.  

Working on social situation triangles also made me realize how much I do not know about what I will be doing from a day to day basis.  In Ghana, I worked in the school and things were more structured.  Structured as in I knew where I was going each day and was not completely relying on serendipity.  This project is going to be a lot different than that.  It is exciting but also kind of scary.  Browsing through different parts of the triangles was helpful, but I think that until I get there I will not be able to really fill in the gaps.  I have no doubt that I will be able to, but it is hard to just imagine it having not been there before. 

Last class period was also really interesting.  We looked at descriptive questions and interviewing, but rather than just talk about it we acted it out.  Natalie was our informant, and the rest of us tried to ask descriptive questions.  Ashley pointed out that our techniques for asking questions were all very different and individual, but I still am not solid on what my niche is.  I think it is easier to do it in real life than in role playing somehow though.  When I have genuine interest in the subject it just comes easier.  Still, I recognize the need to practice because until you find that balance it is hard to know where to start- and I could lose some great first interviews trying to figure it out!  I practiced with my best friend Rachel.  With a project as broad as mine, (and being a pretty private person), I tried to ask questions about her life that would not make her feel uncomfortable or respond with short, uninteresting answers.  I found that some of my favorites were grand tour and mini tour questions though.  I asked her to tell me what a typical day for her looked like in high school which got me some interesting stories I did not anticipate.  Example questions were also helpful here.  I think it was Natalie, but someone in class talked about how it is easier for someone to talk about what an average person would say about a situation than to express their own opinions, so I asked Rachel how someone would probably describe the advantages and disadvantages of living as a BYU student in Provo.  She was less bashful about her opinions when it seemed less personal.  This is a new skill I want to use.

Mi Nuevo Amigo- Informal Interview Method

I stressed all week about finding someone to conduct an informal interview with.  My biggest concerns were first, finding someone I did not know or was not introduced to so that it would not be obvious it was an interview situation, second, to find someone who was a foreigner, and last, to practice good ethnographic questions to get the best kind of answers to generate important details, etc.

I should have known all along that the best way to do an informal interview is through the serendipity of it.  "How do I find good informants?" was the questions we were all asking last class period, and if I have learned anything from this exercise is that I have to be looking for it, trying for it, and take opportunities as they come.

Here is how it went down.  I got off of work as one of the new guys at work, an immigrant from Mexico I will call A.  A and I were the only ones who were off the clock and eating at the same time, and rather than sitting at the booth over from him I decided to take the opportunity to have an informal interview over our meal. 

A seemed a little stunned that I sat next to him.  We greeted, exchanged names, place of origin, etc.  A spoke great English, so I did not have to rely to much on my Spanish, which made translation a little easier, though there were definitely some words and phrases that did not compute when we were trying to talk.  After learning more about the place that he was from and why he came to America to start with, I gathered some interesting details and tried out some of those ethnographic questions we talked about in class.  I was happy with the results.

For a "grand tour" question, I asked A to tell me what his hometown was like, what people did for a living, to describe the smells, sounds, and lifestyles.  I got some interesting information such as a taco stand on the corner called "Mama," and other details like the fumes from the cars that painted a better picture for me, but I thought it might have been a little too "grand tour" if I was going to get more specific details.  Plus I think the other questions were a little strange for him.

I then tried a "mini tour" question.  "Can you describe the street you lived on?"  I got a lot more interesting details, and it felt more like a story, which is what I am going for with my interview.  He described the curves in the uphill road toward his house, how everyone was always walking except for the wealthy (which was not his family, which led us to his family dynamics), the different types of fruit trees and an experience he had with the neighbor trying to take some fruit when he was younger.  It was much more rich, and I got A to laugh, which was great.  It helped him to be more comfortable with me, and I think I was able to show that I genuinely cared about what he was telling me.

I then talked to him a little more about why he came to the US and what it felt like being an outsider.  Sure he is not a Tibetan living in exile, but he was one of the closest things I could find here.  I asked him what some of the cultural differences were that he saw.  He talked about personal space, family relations, and a general better situation in life and more opportunities.  When I asked him what some of the most challenging things he faced moving here he expressed his frustrations with learning English, but that he also knew the importance of it.  Going for another kind of question, I asked him to give me an example of what an English lesson looked like for him when he first started taking the classes at the local university after long work shifts each day.  He commented a bit about the teacher, the class size, room, and also his desire to learn the new language, but by asking about a particular day I was able to get details about how the class was structured, what the relationship was between the teacher and pupils, etc.  It was a useful question, and again, if I am going to be writing stories I cannot afford to skimp out on detail.  I think that informal is the only way to go if I am going to get these kinds of descriptions about their experiences having not been to Tibet myself or lived in exile.

We finished our meals but I not only got a great informal interview, but also a new friend and a better understanding of what it might feel like to be A.  If I were to write up a piece of a story based on this conversation, I would start with his childhood and the fruit stealing.  Of course, to really get the full picture I would need to do several follow ups and keep the interviews coming, but it was a start!

A Talk with Melissa: Informal Interview Method

Since my last field study, I think I have always known that informal interviewing is the method I enjoy the most-or the kind of interviewing that does not look or feel like an interview.  Especially if I am going to be collecting stories while I am in India, there is no better way to kill the details than to try and direct the questions in a way they do not go naturally.  For my methods practice, I decided to talk to Melissa, who was the facilitator last spring/summer to McLeod Ganj, India, and based on her insights I think there a few things I am going to have to rethink.  Here are just a few to help me organize my thoughts.

 Population Range- I think that when I walk talking about my project and formed my previous project question, I wanted to collect stories within McLeod Ganj.  Melissa told me that the Indians and other peoples who inhabit Dharamsala are kept separate from the Tibetans in order to preserve their culture identity.  If that is the case, I want to modify my project to look at Dharamsala instead of McLeod.                 

Mid-semester Retreat- Most groups have gone to the Golden Temple for their trip, which sounds fantastic to me.  I wish I could remember the names of a few of the other cities mentioned... but I was relived that a few of my group members really wanting to see the Taj Mahal will be able to get both, because the city with the Taj is located right outside Dehli.

Expectations- I need to recognize once and for all that this is not going to be anything like my experiences in Ghana.  Here TV's are blaring everywhere I go, tourism really is the industry of the place, and this is a city, not a village.  I will not be dressed in any old thrift store clothes, and I might even be packing my makeup this time around.  I think it is going to be another great adventure, but I need to remember that it will not be Ghana.

Why am I going here?  Melissa asked me why I wanted to go to India to begin with (probably because she was surprised that I do not like TVs).  I told her that I always have been fascinated with India and eastern religion in general.  It is unlike anything we seem to have here, and it is a whole new realm for me.  I think I was more interested in Hinduism at the start, but after taking my Peoples of India Class I am convinced that Hinduism is so complex that a 3 month field study probably will not even scratch the surface.  Buddhism on the other hand, has also been fascinating to me.  I used to have a Buddhist temple near my house when I was a kid, and it always had that lure to it.  In my World Religions survey class I took last year I was also fascinated with how Tibetan Buddhism has been able to sustain itself despite the threat of dying out completely, and it would be cool to see that in action.  However, I think more than anything though, my decision to go to North India was that it felt right.  Living in the ridges of the Himalayas amongst these people just sounds so amazing, and I am excited to learn from them.

Melissa also shared her interpretation of the "Middle Path" with me.  After reading various eastern texts, the whole concept of not being attached to people did not make a lot of sense to me.  Based on her experience, she said that it is not about being a hermit, and far from it, but not letting your happiness depend on others.  I like that...

General Recommendations?  Melissa says to befriend a nun, take a Hindi class (to make a friend, not because the teaching is supreme), and say a quick prayer before I have to pick where different members of my group live for the next three months with only a few sentences of background on each family. 

So yes, informal interviewing means that there is minimal control over the direction of the conversation on the interviewers side, but there are things I want to know that I do not know I want to know.  For this reason, even though it has down sides, it is the most appropriate for the project I will be conducting.

Wow.  I am living in three months!