Human Fieldwork - Practices Flashcards
GT
Fraizer (2020)
Failure of Participant Photography w/ Refugees
Fraizer (2020) Benefits
Methodology shifted
Empowered using older photos
Fraizer (2020) Failures
Ahmed = selfies
Recruitment process too slow
Not enough data = could not complete research
Fieldwork Failure
The process in which the aims of fieldwork research do not align with the outcome, with this usually perceived negatively (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Messiness in fieldwork
Fraizer, 2020
Pilot studies
Fraizer, 2020
Fieldwork is learned and not innate
(Delyser and Starrs, 2001)
good rapport (Fraizer, 2020)
avoids a power imbalance and encourages reflexivity
Fieldwork failure is often smoothed and self-doubt is removed out through peer review
as failure can be damaging to academic careers (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Fieldwork Failure Kyrgyzstan - Harrowell (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Interviews & ethnography
Not fluent in Russian and other local languages = language barrier
Research Assistants = no insider perspectives or opportunistic/ spontaneous encounters could occur
Transcription process = resulted mistranslations
Paper did not acknowledge these language problems
Fieldwork Benefits Kyrgyzstan - Harrowell (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Research assistants = insider knowledge
Language barrier = follow up questions and more overall detail
Fieldwork Failure Chernobyl - Davies (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Ethnographic research on exclusion zone lived experience
Crossed the exclusion zone = arrested and interrogated by the KGB
Fieldwork Benefits Chernobyl - Davies (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Insider experience = rapport built as could discuss the experience of being caught and arrested
Personal reflection of Chernobyl - Davies
masculinist adventure seeking fieldwork
no consideration of class and gender = fines paid easily
Fieldwork Failure Russia - Davies (Harrowell et al., 2018)
Ethnographic study in Russian orphanages w/ children possessing intellectual disabilities
Witnessed mental and physical abuse = violated Human Rights Impacted Disney’s mental state = research would not help = later conversations about failure revealed that these fears are shared within the field
production of the ‘field’ is wrapped up in colonial practice through othering and exoticising (Katz, 1994)
may be better for researchers to conduct research in places of familiar
Fieldwork can reinforce negative preconceptions (Nairn, 2005)
Post-colonial New Zealand –> lower economic class outdoor market and ethnic diversity –> students racist preconceptions reinforced as region chosen intentionally
Fieldwork deepens and develops experiences of learning through critical thinking - argument of paper
this encourages children to engage more deeply with the research topic and establishes deep, active learning as opposed to surface passive learning (Hope, 2009)
Fieldwork conducted ethically can counter preconceptions (Hope, 2009)
Research on sustainability in Scotland
discussions, Q&As, presentations, reflective essays on environmental sustainability vs socio-economic sustainability –> challenged preconceptions but developed other skills e.g. socialising
RASI Rock Art Stability Index (Allen & Lukinbeal 2011 )
engages deeper engagement –> interdisciplinary as cultural heritage value also assessed –> more productive than lectures and labs as it encourages active engagement across a region
Mawdsley (2004)
discussing the role of women within physical geography fieldwork
Fieldwork was masculine and based on scientific thought meaning women could not access it as they were irrational (Rose, 1993)
Women are often unconfident in their abilities relative to men, or the domestic role would lead to them not engaging in fieldwork (Mawdsley, 2004)
Fieldwork is never apolitical (Abbot, 2006)
the politics and power dynamics within it reinforce the ‘traditional geographies’ embedded within it
‘Celebrity status’ in fieldwork is rooted in ideology which suggests that the west is the superior region of knowledge production which thereby undermines indigenous and other knowledges and upholds living and working in the west as the best (Abbott, 2006)
Slavery can be depicted through “skewed power relations” e.g. learning about slavery on luxury tourist ship in Gambia after the tourism of Kunta Kinte from Roots
Ideology of whiteness (Abbott, 2006) –> leads to the reenactment of racial patterns through the assumed ‘celebrity status’
fieldwork needs to be prepared adequately to consider these power/hierarchical impacts.
Failure advances
knowledge production (Davies et al., 2021)
Neoliberalisation is responsible for the difficulty to admit failure
with academic journals presenting a ‘journal land’ (Davies et al., 2021: 2)
Fieldwork-based research requires positionality
as embodied experience will influence all research practice (Rose, 1997)
participatory action research with children 2000-2002 (Horton, 2008)
disruptive children
researcher picking favourites
children not wanting to participate
mirage of ethical concerns
Jenkins et al., 2020
Participatory action research to analyse the indigenous activism against the Chilean government failed as the women boycot –> women wanted to protect their cultural heritage and not share information between different groups but also as they would not have benefitted from the research
Indigeneity (Jenkins et al., 2020)
problematic as it reinforces the state as the dominant actor yet renders indigenous people to subjects without the protection of the citizens
Decolonial methods –> dance (Hunt, 2014)
researcher moves between indigenous space into academic space (Hunt, 2014).
Participatory methods –> empowers marginalised groups by providing them power and a voice (Klocker, 2015)
Often retraumatises the participant but through this method the trauma is addressed to provide long term benefits
Participatory action research can cause emotional distress
important to communicate with other members of the community to be better prepared of the risks (Klocker, 2015)
corporatisation/neoliberalisation of research
decreased the amount of time in the field –> conclusions different
Eurocentric practice
geographic fieldwork in the 19th century
God Trick - Haraway
Fieldwork can be conducted by white able bodied men to produce objective knowledge –> not in reality –> embodiment
Geography gendered as male
nature as “observed, penetrated and mastered” (Spark, 1996: 212)
fieldwork failure in physical geography is not discussed
therefore the transparency about failure is not equally distributed across the discipline
Failure in physical geography research means being unable to get enough data to reach a valid conclusion
therefore failure is rarely discussed within geographic research
Physical geography based research often involves
Climate research e.g. production of models to understand the climate across African Climate (James et al., 2018)
Coupled ocean-atmosphere models (AOGCMs) detail information about the ocean and atmosphere –> inform seasonal change and future climatic changes (Rowell, 2013).
2 models were used to determine how precipitation rates across East Africa would change in response to anthropogenic climate change (Cook and Vizy, 2012)
This type of research is conducted through digital means and consequently failure to conduct the research elicits a sense of inadequacy in conducting the scientific method
