Student Fieldworkers in Village and City

"Student Fieldworkers in Village and City" by George Gmelch and Sharon Bohn Gmelch

Thesis: " In all field research, no matter where it takes place, anthropologists must draw on their social and interpersonal skills to gain the cooperation of the local people." (Gmelch pg.86)

This article effectively compares and contrasts the differences of doing fieldwork in the city vs the country. It talks about the obstacles that the students who were placed in Tasmania faced. Some of these obstacles were "tracking down potential research subject", and their inability to connect with the residents of the city. The students that were placed in Hobart focused their research on subcultures. While the students that were placed in the villages of Barbados were able to engage in a different approach to their research, some of these included "participant-observation research. The students that were placed in the village were able to have a more personal experience with the villagers. Instead of conducting interviews they were able to collect their information by simply hanging out with the inhabitants.

Moreover, the students that were placed in Barbados had extensive field notes and journal entries,while students that were placed in Hobart had difficulty producing these documents. Some of the advantages to being placed in the city was the exposure that the students were subjected to. Students placed in the city were able to experience the culture by way of museums and theaters. Therefore the students in the city in contrast to the students in the village was the lack of downtime. And although this prevented the students from collecting field notes and other documents they were able to experience the culture rather than report about it. In this way the research was more of a first hand account rather than a second hand account.

The article also speaks about how each setting affects the students lives. While living in a rural setting was benefical for ethnographic research and the city proved to be difficult. Both settings equally came with reservations. Students had to adjust to living in a new setting and be able to complete their research.

"Student Fieldworkers in Village and City" is my favorite article by far, because it displays the obstacles of doing fieldwork in the village as well as the city. It also shows obstacles of conducting research in a foriegn country. Another,point that arises in the article is the differences of Urban and Rural research. Defining research terms based upon the setting is beneficial to learning to conduct ethnographic research. By understanding the research parameters I am able to plan my approach to my research project.