Ethnographic Fieldwork. Dr. Jan Blommaert
for instance, may provide immediate answers for other parts. Imagine that Absurdistan would be a People’s Republic with a rather radical communist government; that would immediately trigger an expectation that the education system in Absurdistan would be fully state-controlled. Your research would then by definition focus on work in state-controlled schools, working (probably) with a unified curriculum and employing teachers who have had a very similar training. If, now, you discover the existence of a flourishing but clandestine private education market during your fieldwork in Absurdistan, this insight gains importance, for one can expect this to be at odds with the policy provisions and dominant ideology of the country. It would mean that people perceive the formal education system as deficient, or realise that what they learn in schools is not enough for the kinds of social trajectories they have in mind, or even that there is a lot of dissent in the country, and that education is a focal area in organising this dissent. You may, then, have found the existence of two parallel and complimentary systems of education, one formal and another commercial, around which people organise different views, expectations and patterns of performance. This, of course, would be a major finding, because ‘education in Absurdistan’ now becomes a highly complex thing, and your observations in official schools should be balanced against observations elsewhere.
Take another example. You find out that Absurdistan was a communist People’s Republic until three years ago, when the regime changed to a capitalist multiparty system with strong ties to the United States and the EU. These new partners have since become very active in the field of development support, and the education system has been overhauled by American and European technical advisors. You now know that you will in all likelihood encounter a very complex and perhaps paradox-ridden education field, in which teachers trained to be good communists have to induce their pupils into the virtues of pro-Western capitalism (but might not know very well how to do that), in which people would constantly compare the ‘old’ versus the ‘new’ education system, and in which you would probably see a rapidly increasing class division between private, urban elite schools and old-style public schools. Your research would then, in all likelihood, be compelled to address these features of transition and contradiction.
A lot of this documentary research needs to be done prior to departing for the field. Some parts of it, however, may only be possible over there. You might need access to specific archives, for instance, or some things can only be found out by going to the local Ministry of Education and asking people there. As said, it is important, because it leads to, and helps you in, more practical aspects of preparation. For instance, and very importantly, it can help you decide whether the topic you had in mind is
(1)Worth researching: Is it big enough as a topic, is it promising in terms of findings, are there specific documentary/empirical and theoretical issues that may be addressed through fieldwork there?
(2)Researchable: This is very important: many topics are very much worth researching, but practically, legally or otherwise unresearchable. There may be ethical restrictions, legal and political ones (authorities not releasing crucial information, or not granting research permits for particular forms and topics of research), material ones (fieldwork would be too expensive or would require a massive research infrastructure) or others. Research in a war zone, for instance, is as good as impossible, even if the situation in that region cries for thorough and sustained research and even if people there would be genuinely helped by your work. The same goes for many ‘slum’ environments around the world: they are extraordinarily fascinating places and we absolutely need a clear and detailed understanding of life in such environments, but the conditions for research are such that researchers could expose themselves to serious danger even entering the area. There are also people who might put you in grave danger when you decide to do research with and on them – think of gangs or rebel movements.3 Researchability is a major decision you need to make during the preparation phase, and thorough preparatory research is essential in making it.
In addition, preparatory research of course helps you in deciding issues such as the general target(s) of your research, the patterns of work you will develop – observations, interviews, single-site or multiple-site research, etc. – the number and kinds of informants you would probably need in order to get your findings, the amount of administrative procedure you need to follow (visa requirements, research permits, ethical clearance, local reporting and so on). It helps you select the schools you will work in, establish first contacts with local people in schools and communities, find out a bit about what goes on there prior to your arrival, and establish interaction with local researchers or institutes. Good preparation helps you to be realistic in all of this.
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