Foodie in the Field: Expectations vs Reality

On Fieldwork: Expectations vs Reality:

Fieldwork is the period of time that you dedicate to gathering data for Anthropological projects by diving deep into the lifeworld of the issue that one has decided to study. This is an interesting time because of the uncertainty of what you will take away at the end of it.

Besides a sizable body of data, fieldwork could also give you a change of mindset or even lifelong friends. Here is a list of how I expected my 3-month long fieldwork to be, versus how it was in reality.

1) Expectation: Set out everyday and find something new and ground-breaking.

Reality A few days when “nothing” happened “in the field”

I definitely had many days during fieldwork when I did not have any meeting, events, expos or farms to visit. This made me anxious about whether I would have enough data to write an entire thesis. Sometimes, I even blamed myself for not fixing up an interview or visit, because I was not “in the field” that day. When you are faced with such a situation, the first thing you have to do is breathe. Not everyday is going to be equally exciting, and its not bad or wrong. On such a day, you could choose to do a bit of reading, which might actually point you in a direction that you had not though about yet. We also need to remember that an ethnography is an extremely condensed version of several months of fieldwork. Although I feared that I did not have enough data in the beginning of my writing process, in a few weeks, I was already omitting things because I had too much!

2) Expectation: Your research question being answered by data from the field

Reality: New research question being answered by data from the field

Fieldwork is an important research method because sometimes it can point out that your

research question needs to either be updated or changed because elements surrounding your question have changed. A review of literature may not necessarily show this to you as clearly as fieldwork will. But this is a good thing! (if you act fast). This will give you time to look at your question in a more nuanced manner. That being said, it is also totally fine if your question remains unchanged!

3) Expectation: Fieldwork will not change me

Reality: Representing your interlocutors in a demonstration

You could end up choosing a project that interests you but concerns something you

were not specifically passionate about. Fieldwork could also lead you down an

unexpected path which you did not think you could ever go down. I was not someone who particularly cared about what I ate, apart from it tasting good, until I did fieldwork among food activists. Not only has the experience changed certain priorities in my life, but its even changed my dietary habits!

4) Expectation: I will draw a clear line between the field and “real life”

Reality: Observing and analyzing ANYTHING slightly related to your field

Although it is difficult to draw this line because you could miss a crucial insight if you don’t jot down something someone said at dinner, sometimes it is important to be strict about maintaining this line. Of course, ideas can even come to you when you are just falling asleep, but sometimes you catch yourself unconsciously making observations that you do not need. Fieldwork can be more physically taxing than you think, because while in the field you need to be 100% “on” because otherwise you could miss something. But doing that all the time, can be exhausting and might be detrimental to your later fieldwork and mental health.

5) Expectation: After fieldwork, I probably won’t meet my interlocutors again

Reality: Continues sharing memes with interlocutors friends

The beautiful thing about fieldwork is that you can end it and have a whole new bunch of friends because of the amount of time you spent together. Of course, I was surrounded by interlocutors who I could agree with on most things which is why this was possible.

Written by:

Tanya Pal