Human Fieldwork - Practices

Question 1

Fraizer (2020)

Answer 1

Failure of Participant Photography w/ Refugees

Question 2

Fraizer (2020) Benefits

Answer 2

Methodology shifted
Empowered using older photos

Question 3

Fraizer (2020) Failures

Answer 3

Ahmed = selfies
Recruitment process too slow
Not enough data = could not complete research

Question 4

Fieldwork Failure

Answer 4

The process in which the aims of fieldwork research do not align with the outcome, with this usually perceived negatively (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Question 5

Messiness in fieldwork

Answer 5

Fraizer, 2020

Question 6

Pilot studies

Answer 6

Fraizer, 2020

Question 7

Fieldwork is learned and not innate

Answer 7

(Delyser and Starrs, 2001)

Question 8

good rapport (Fraizer, 2020)

Answer 8

avoids a power imbalance and encourages reflexivity

Question 9

Fieldwork failure is often smoothed and self-doubt is removed out through peer review

Answer 9

as failure can be damaging to academic careers (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Question 10

Fieldwork Failure Kyrgyzstan - Harrowell (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Fieldwork Benefits Kyrgyzstan - Harrowell (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Answer 11

Research assistants = insider knowledge
Language barrier = follow up questions and more overall detail

Question 12

Fieldwork Failure Chernobyl - Davies (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Answer 12

Ethnographic research on exclusion zone lived experience
Crossed the exclusion zone = arrested and interrogated by the KGB

Question 13

Fieldwork Benefits Chernobyl - Davies (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Answer 13

Insider experience = rapport built as could discuss the experience of being caught and arrested

Question 14

Personal reflection of Chernobyl - Davies

Answer 14

masculinist adventure seeking fieldwork
no consideration of class and gender = fines paid easily

Question 15

Fieldwork Failure Russia - Davies (Harrowell et al., 2018)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

production of the ‘field’ is wrapped up in colonial practice through othering and exoticising (Katz, 1994)

Answer 16

may be better for researchers to conduct research in places of familiar

Question 17

Fieldwork can reinforce negative preconceptions (Nairn, 2005)

Answer 17

Post-colonial New Zealand –> lower economic class outdoor market and ethnic diversity –> students racist preconceptions reinforced as region chosen intentionally

Question 18

Fieldwork deepens and develops experiences of learning through critical thinking - argument of paper

Answer 18

this encourages children to engage more deeply with the research topic and establishes deep, active learning as opposed to surface passive learning (Hope, 2009)

Question 19

Fieldwork conducted ethically can counter preconceptions (Hope, 2009)

Answer 19

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

Question 20

RASI Rock Art Stability Index (Allen & Lukinbeal 2011 )

Answer 20

engages deeper engagement –> interdisciplinary as cultural heritage value also assessed –> more productive than lectures and labs as it encourages active engagement across a region

Question 21

Mawdsley (2004)

Answer 21

discussing the role of women within physical geography fieldwork

Question 22

Fieldwork was masculine and based on scientific thought meaning women could not access it as they were irrational (Rose, 1993)

Answer 22

Women are often unconfident in their abilities relative to men, or the domestic role would lead to them not engaging in fieldwork (Mawdsley, 2004)

Question 23

Fieldwork is never apolitical (Abbot, 2006)

Answer 23

the politics and power dynamics within it reinforce the ‘traditional geographies’ embedded within it

Question 24

‘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)

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Ideology of whiteness (Abbott, 2006) –> leads to the reenactment of racial patterns through the assumed ‘celebrity status’

Answer 25

fieldwork needs to be prepared adequately to consider these power/hierarchical impacts.

Question 26

Failure advances

Answer 26

knowledge production (Davies et al., 2021)

Question 27

Neoliberalisation is responsible for the difficulty to admit failure

Answer 27

with academic journals presenting a ‘journal land’ (Davies et al., 2021: 2)

Question 28

Fieldwork-based research requires positionality

Answer 28

as embodied experience will influence all research practice (Rose, 1997)

Question 29

participatory action research with children 2000-2002 (Horton, 2008)

Answer 29

disruptive children
researcher picking favourites
children not wanting to participate
mirage of ethical concerns

Question 30

Jenkins et al., 2020

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Indigeneity (Jenkins et al., 2020)

Answer 31

problematic as it reinforces the state as the dominant actor yet renders indigenous people to subjects without the protection of the citizens

Question 32

Decolonial methods –> dance (Hunt, 2014)

Answer 32

researcher moves between indigenous space into academic space (Hunt, 2014).

Question 33

Participatory methods –> empowers marginalised groups by providing them power and a voice (Klocker, 2015)

Answer 33

Often retraumatises the participant but through this method the trauma is addressed to provide long term benefits

Question 34

Participatory action research can cause emotional distress

Answer 34

important to communicate with other members of the community to be better prepared of the risks (Klocker, 2015)

Question 35

corporatisation/neoliberalisation of research

Answer 35

decreased the amount of time in the field –> conclusions different

Question 36

Eurocentric practice

Answer 36

geographic fieldwork in the 19th century

Question 37

God Trick - Haraway

Answer 37

Fieldwork can be conducted by white able bodied men to produce objective knowledge –> not in reality –> embodiment

Question 38

Geography gendered as male

Answer 38

nature as “observed, penetrated and mastered” (Spark, 1996: 212)

Question 39

fieldwork failure in physical geography is not discussed

Answer 39

therefore the transparency about failure is not equally distributed across the discipline

Question 40

Failure in physical geography research means being unable to get enough data to reach a valid conclusion

Answer 40

therefore failure is rarely discussed within geographic research

Question 41

Physical geography based research often involves

Answer 41

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).

Question 42

2 models were used to determine how precipitation rates across East Africa would change in response to anthropogenic climate change (Cook and Vizy, 2012)

Answer 42

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