Doing Anthropological Research: A Practical Guide

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: about Doing Anthropological Research
Who this book is for
What this book aims to do
Organization of the book
1. Getting started: the search for anthropological questions
Coming up with a research topic
What is anthropology about anyway?
Think practical
Home or away, fieldwork or library-based?
Thinking both big and small
What does a field site look like?
From first-order to second-order questions
References
2. Planning your research project
Writing your research proposal
Literature review
Ethnographic research methods
Primary fieldwork methods
Secondary research methods
Ethical considerations
Practical arrangements
Language proficiency
Permission and contacts
Budget and timetable
References
3. On the primary importance of secondary research
Not by primary fieldwork alone: varieties of research and sources
Why does secondary research matter?
Making your secondary research efficient, systematic and
transparent
Making it memorable and enjoyable
Getting started with secondary research
Next steps in the process of using secondary sources
Stages or levels of active reading and note-taking
Some Practical Considerations
References
4. Doing research: anthropology and ethnographic fieldwork
‘Deep hanging out’: what is ethnographic fieldwork anyway?
Fieldwork is a ‘rite of passage’?
Fieldwork is ‘I was there’?
Fieldwork is primary research?
Fieldwork as a diversity of tools and techniques
Fieldwork is ‘deep hanging out’?
A useful fieldwork definition
What is anthropology anyway (part 2), and why does this
matter for doing fieldwork?
Victor Turner’s ‘Symbols in Ndembu Ritual’
Kevin Dwyer’s Moroccan Dialogues
Csordas’s ‘Words from the Holy People: A Case Study in Cultural Phenomenology and Wacquant’s ‘The Pugilistic Point of View’
References
5. Doing research: fieldwork practicalities
Arrival in ‘the field’
Where and how to live
Plan B
Generating information
Participant observation
Interviews
Surveys and questionnaires
Language
Recording information, writing fieldnotes and embodying
your ethnographic stance
References
6. Ethics
Thinking about ‘ethics’
Dilemmas during research
Janet’s first dilemma
John’s first dilemma
Janet’s second dilemma
John’s second dilemma
Janet’s third dilemma
John’s third dilemma
Janet’s fourth dilemma
John’s fourth dilemma
To sum up
References
7. Sorting things out: organizing and interpreting your data
Introduction
What is data?
Data management: sorting stuff out
Fieldnotes
Recorded interviews and focus groups
Documents and clippings
Images: still and moving
Interpreting your data
Knowing and using the relevant literature
Practical analytical steps
Significant events or ideas
Vignette writing
Recurring themes
Visualization
Paradoxes
Doxa
Idea log
Missing data
Articulating your analysis: linking data and theory
References
8. Communicating the research and writing up
Introduction
Writing and communicating (or getting a good grade)
Getting started
Free-writing
Planning to write
Revisit and revise your research topic
Mind map
The outline
Writing the darn thing
Introducing the argument
The introduction
Reviewing the literature
Describing your
methods
Fashioning the argument
Claims and evidence
Zooming in and zooming out
Concluding the argument
Staying sane, getting help, getting finished
Be realistic
Keep writing
Do not suffer in silence
Work with your supervisor
Work with others
Seek support if you need it
References
Conclusion: after the dissertation
Dissemination: sharing and publishing your research
Reports and presentations
Conference papers, posters and visual presentations
Exhibitions and film screenings
Journal articles
Skills and attributes
References
Index