Studying Contemporary Culture PDF

# 2: Studying Contemporary Culture ## Learning Objectives In this chapter, students will learn: * What anthropologists mean by *culture* * The usefulness of using the approach of cultural relativism over ethnocentrism * How to evaluate whether cultural practices are adaptive or maladaptive * The...

# 2: Studying Contemporary Culture ## Learning Objectives In this chapter, students will learn: * What anthropologists mean by *culture* * The usefulness of using the approach of cultural relativism over ethnocentrism * How to evaluate whether cultural practices are adaptive or maladaptive * The functions of culture * How raising children and cultural practices are connected * How anthropologists study culture in the field and ensure they are acting ethically * The applicability of anthropological research to solving problems ## Introduction: Studying Culture When I sat down at a long wooden table on my first night of anthropological fieldwork in Ciudad de Oaxaca, México, I wanted to make a good impression on the men who would be my cultural informants over the next several months. As good hosts, they had prepared some drinks and snacks to share: tequila shots and crispy fried *chapulines*, or baby crickets. Suddenly I was confronted with the kind of decision that ethnographers make as a routine part of fieldwork. Do I eat the bugs, smile, and accept their hospitality? Or risk disrespecting my hosts’ generosity by refusing? The crickets weren’t bad, actually - reminiscent of chips with chile and lime - although I did have to pull a tiny leg out of my teeth. The tequila helped wash it down, and we shared an evening of introductions and laughter. This book introduces the perspective of cultural anthropology as a kind of lens through which one sees the world. Through the lens, cultural anthropologists see that people relate to one another within an intricate web of knowledge, beliefs, and practices. No matter how different people are, the lens shows that every culture is valid and complex, a magnificent puzzle that the anthropologist pieces together. In Mexico, my hosts and I had two different cultural views about what is and is not food. Food choices are an essential part of culture, of what is understood as “normal” or “natural.” From my training as an anthropologist, I knew that no food choice is inherently “right,” only familiar or unfamiliar. So I accepted their offering as a gesture of goodwill, hoping that my willingness gave a positive first impression. Culture itself can be thought of as a kind of lens, although no special skills are needed to see through it. All humans are born ready to acquire the cultural knowledge that constitutes the lens. Each person will use their particular cultural lens, or perspective, to make sense of the world. The cultural lens guides our behavior and interactions with others – for instance, whether crickets are food. Moreover, the lens is largely invisible. That is, we learn how to act and interact within our own culture without requiring a rulebook for behavior. For example, an infant born to a Ghanaian mother and father will learn Ghanaian culture. But an infant born to an Italian mother and a Polish father living in Ghana will also learn Ghanaian culture. She may wear *kente cloth* and enjoy *fufu* (a Ghanaian staple food) in her school lunches. Of course, she will also be exposed to aspects of her parents’ upbringing (and may also enjoy the occasional *linguini* or *kielbasa*), but doesn't receive Italian or Polish “DNA” that translates directly into culture or language. She'll acquire her culture based on experience. Understanding culture allows us to behave appropriately when we interact with others. When a baby is born in a hospital in the United States, nurses often provide a little blue cap or a little pink cap to identify the baby's sex. Is this so the baby learns to act properly? Not yet, because of course the baby doesn't understand. It’s for others, so they can behave appropriately in relation to the infant. To the baby in the pink cap, a family member may coo, “Hello, beautiful princess.” If the baby in the blue cap kicks in his incubator, the nurse may call him a "future football star." Eventually the infant will learn the culturally expected ways to behave by interacting with others. Expectations of how people should behave based on their sex, called *gender roles*, are an essential part of culture. All human groups have culture (and some animal species, too, although to a lesser extent). Sharing culture means people understand what goes on around them. It doesn't mean all people think or behave in the same ways. But certainly “regular" behavior (walking down an urban street) can be distinguished from “irregular" behavior (walking naked down an urban street with a possum on your head). Because culture can't be measured, held in your hands, or shown on a map, how do anthropologists understand it? We learn about culture by getting in the thick of it. Ethnographers go and live among the people that they want to learn about, and slowly, over time, come to understand their world. Practicing cultural anthropology means that fieldworkers participate in people's lives at the same time that they are observing and analyzing behavior. We call the process of studying culture *ethnographic research* and the written or visual product of that research an *ethnography*. Importantly, the lens of anthropology shapes how ethnographers approach their subjects and what questions they ask. In particular, ethnographers seek to understand the *emic* or cultural insider’s - view as well as the *etic* or outside observer’s - view. ## What are the Parts of Culture? Let’s examine the components of culture a bit more closely. The different definitions of culture from Chapter 1 all have three basic parts. They consist of what we think, what we do, and what we have. **1. What we think**: *Cognition* is all the ways we process information. This includes how we perceive, understand, and evaluate the world around us, with ideas, opinions, and emotions. **2. What we do**: *Actions and interactions with others* are behavioral. How a person eats, works, and plays are all products of this shared knowledge. Shared culture guides behaviors in ways that allow people to understand and act appropriately with each other (or choose to act inappropriately). **3. What we have**: The material products of our society are *artifacts* (portable items) and *features* (nonportable items). This includes things like pottery, sculpture, and buildings, and also clothing, cars, and computers. Artifacts and features are also referred to as *material culture*: the things that people make, alter, and use. ## Four Characteristics of Culture * **Biological instincts** are patterns of behavior people are born with. Instincts are coded in our DNA as part of the legacy of *Homo sapiens*. Examples of instincts are to run from danger or recoil from a burn – they help us survive by being automatically deployed by our brains and bodies. Culture has certain important features that make it different from biological instincts: culture is learned, based on symbols, holistic, and shared. * **Culture is learned**: Humans are not born with knowledge of their culture. They learn it actively and acquire it from the people around them without trying. The process of learning begins with an infant’s interactions with primary caregivers and family. The process extends in childhood to friends, community members, schoolteachers, the media, and other influences. Each person has agency in choosing which aspects of their culture are meaningful to them. * **Culture is based on symbols**: When anthropologists talk about culture as being based on symbols, we aren't referring only to peace signs and emojis. Although these and other graphic representations of ideas are symbols, a symbol can be anything that stands for something else. Symbols are generally arbitrary, that is, there need not be any connection between the symbol and the idea. For instance, you may not have thought of language as symbolic. But what else is it besides a set of sounds (speech) or a set of squiggles (writing) that stand for ideas? What makes language symbolic is that members of a culture agree upon the meaning of the sounds and squiggles. Speakers of English know that when they see or hear an “s” at the end of a word, it often represents more than one (plural). Therefore, the “s” is a symbol that stands for the idea of plurality. * **Culture is holistic, or integrated**: Anthropologists approach the study of culture with the knowledge that all aspects of a society are connected. If one aspect is altered, then others will be affected as well. For instance, in a colonial situation, a dominant society may impose new religious practices on a small-scale one. With the loss of familiar ritual, the rites performed to ensure a good harvest may be lost, farming practices may change, and even family life may be altered. This is why some compare anthropology to an orchestra – if you listen only to the violins, then you miss the symphony. It's important to listen to how the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion weave together to understand the whole musical piece. * **Culture is shared**: Finally, because the idea of culture involves more than just one individual, culture must be shared. A culture consists of shared understandings among a group of people, who can “read” each other’s actions like a text. Otherwise, a feature that wasn't shared by others could be a unique attribute or quirk. For example, if one person wears earrings made of tomatoes, it is a quirk. If that person, such as a celebrity, carries some status and others join in, then it may become a cultural fad. (Granted, this would be a very strange fad.) The shared nature of culture allows people to understand each other's behaviors. ## Culture as Community In this book, several different terms are used to talk about people and their cultures. Depending on the context, people may be referred to as a *community*, *group*, or *society*. As used in this book, a *society* shares a geographical space, as well as similar rules of behavior. A *group* is roughly synonymous with society. The term *community* may mean either people who live, work, and play together or people who are connected by cultural norms and values wherever they may live. Sometimes there is confusion over the differences between culture and society. In anthropology, we would say, for instance, that members of Vietnamese society share culture. In other words, Vietnamese people (in the society) learn the roles and expectations of their culture (shared understandings). Of course, this is a broad generalization, since not all members of a culture know everything or think the same way – nor is that expected. Every culture has variation: generally, the larger the society, the more diversity that exists. Ants and bees may also be said to have a society. However, in the insect world, society refers to a structure based on instinct. Some bees are born drones and some are born queens. They don’t get to decide. Young teenage bees don’t suffer angst about what they are going to be when they grow up. They just know because they’re born with impulses that drive their behavior. In contrast, human society is based on cultural values and expectations, not a biological imperative. Within any culture, we can find many communities with similar *identity markers*. Markers may include ethnicity, socioeconomic class, religious beliefs, age, gender, and interests. These subgroups, or *subcultures*, are made up of people connected by similarities. Subcultures may reflect ethnic heritage, such as Mexican Americans. Or they may denote common interests, such as Steampunk cosplay in which people dress in futuristic Victorian clothing with a Western twist and hold events where they interact in character. All people have membership in multiple cultures and subcultures at once. For instance, those of you reading this textbook likely identify yourself with the subculture of college students. But that’s not where your identity ends, of course. You may also be a sibling, a Hindu, a foodie, an anime fan, a saxophone player, or a community leader. Each of these subcultures, whether large or small, connects you to others who have similar interests, ideas, and practices. None of our identity markers and subcultures exist in a vacuum but are situated within the context of social life. This means that aspects of a person’s culture may be valued positively or negatively by the norms of society, and by different groups within society. When multiple aspects of identity are different from the dominant group with power, the intersectionality of those markers can cause increased discrimination and marginalization. Cultural understandings can be shared in a concentrated way, across borders and boundaries or even virtually. A culture is not a fixed entity, especially when so many emigrants and refugees have left their birthplaces and live in a *diaspora*, that is, in a community of people with shared ethnicity who live outside their original homeland in other regions or countries. Often people whose families have left their home countries and now reside in a different one are *bicultural* or *multicultural*. Because their experiences are unique, millions of people who have left their home countries in their (or their parents’) lifetimes grapple with what it means for them personally to belong to or navigate multiple cultural norms and expectations. Even though the term “culture” is used in this book as if it were something fixed, it’s important to recognize that culture is not static. It is always changing. Some changes may be slow, such as the goals of gender or racial equality. Other changes may be fast as lightning, such as the adoption of smartphones and social media. Nonetheless, every society adapts and evolves. No individual or group is fossilized as if their culture were a museum exhibit. ## Learning Culture Because culture is learned, people are not born with instincts about what to do to be a fully functioning member of that culture. While very young, tiny humans don’t yet know what is good to eat, what is “right” or “wrong,” or why pennies shouldn’t go up your nose. Because members of a group share culture, the knowledge and understandings that make up that culture must be passed on from member to member. Cultural knowledge is transmitted from one generation to the next, from parents and other adults to children, through the process of *enculturation*. People who have the most contact with infants and young children act as the primary transmitters of culture. While this is usually a child’s parents, it may also be their grandparents, older siblings, foster family, or another close adult. As the child gets older, they come into contact with many other people outside the family. Peers also play a role in the enculturation process. As kids play together, they learn from each other, practicing cultural roles they will later step into, such as dad, mom, warrior, healer, or teacher. In North America, little girls are rarely given trucks as their first toys. Little boys aren’t given tea sets. Children are given toys that society regards as appropriate for their gender roles. More often, girls are given dolls to prepare them for a nurturing role that society considers suitable for females. Boys play soldiers, pirates, or superheroes, in preparation for more aggressive masculine roles. All this play is also considered *enculturation*. Enculturation combines the formal teaching ("don't pull your sister's hair") with the informal acquisition of culture that comes with everyday life. ## Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism Consider a group of people from a completely different environment than the one you live in. For instance, the Efe people from the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have a different set of cultural beliefs and behaviors, including their food preferences. Efe people eat fat grubs (the larva form of beetles) as a source of protein. If you just thought “Eww, gross,” you are probably not alone. It is a common reaction to feel like the way we do things is normal, and the way others do things is not. This idea - that our own customs are normal while others’ customs are strange, wrong, or even disgusting – is the notion of *ethnocentrism*. Ethnocentric thoughts lead us to condemn the actions of others simply because they are different: “How could someone ever have multiple wives?” “I can’t believe they drink the blood of their cows!" "Men look stupid in skirts." "Why can’t they just be normal?" Ethnocentrism allows people to feel superior to others by denigrating differences in their behavior, ideas, or values. A degree of ethnocentrism is instilled in children at a young age. Members of a group are taught to love their country, identify with their city and state, and support their community. Pride in people and origins isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it binds people together based on their commonalities. Pride only becomes a problem when ethnocentric ideas about other people's beliefs and behaviors turn into hateful words or misguided actions. Thinking ethnocentrically doesn’t allow people to fully understand other cultures. It blinds them to the intrinsic value in every way of life. *Anthropologists reject* an ethnocentric mindset when undertaking research in order to be as objective as possible. Even if the fieldworker doesn’t agree with certain behaviors or values personally, it is their responsibility to observe, describe, and interpret those behaviors objectively. Anthropology has an important duty to keep ethnocentrism in check when studying other cultures, no matter how foreign those cultures are to our own. It’s important to remember that the majority of our behavior is learned. Therefore, the study of cultures around the world reminds us that if we were born in those societies with those “abnormal" or “bizarre” practices, we would practice them too. This includes all aspects of culture, from marriage patterns to religious beliefs to what is acceptable to eat. (See Box 2.1). In contrast to ethnocentrism, anthropologists use a model called *cultural relativism*. This is the idea that all cultures are equally valid and that beliefs and behaviors can only be understood and interpreted in their own context. The idea of cultural relativism encourages us to seek reasons for why people do the things they do, without judgment. Because culture is integrated, anthropologists can understand one aspect of culture only if we understand the whole. This holistic perspective allows anthropologists to study people's beliefs and behavior without imposing our own. Although all anthropologists take cultural relativism to heart, not all anthropologists agree to what extent it applies. When human rights are violated or abusive behavior toward children occurs, for example, anthropologists may become engaged in ways to cease people’s suffering. Some anthropologists may feel compelled to get involved to expose the practice or stop it, even when the practice is culturally accepted in the region of study. This is something that ethnographers must decide for themselves. ## Cultural Adaptation and Maladaptation One important quality of humans is that we are able to adapt. In fact, our ability to adapt to changing circumstances is likely the reason that Homo sapiens are still around today. Our big brains, flexible behavior, and cultural adaptations have allowed us to not only survive but thrive as the dominant species on Earth. Humans have been able to expand across the globe into every environment possible: the desert, the tropical rainforest, or the snow forest (taiga). In more recent times, we’ve even been able to live in submarines under water and on the International Space Station. *Biological adaptations* allow an organism to better survive in its present conditions, or live successfully and reproduce in a variety of habitats. A good example is the hummingbird’s long, thin beak and wings that beat so rapidly it can hover. These physical adaptations allow it to extract nectar from deep within a flower, finding nutrition where other birds cannot. While humans have some very important biological adaptations (including walking upright and a vocal tract that allows speech), we have excelled at advanced cultural adaptations. *Cultural adaptations* include all the ways that humans use cultural knowledge to better succeed in their surroundings. Because humans have language, we pass on knowledge orally or in writing. We use language to record, test, and compile knowledge. The development of science and technology are products of language and culture. When freezing, we can start a fire, use a blanket, buy a parka, or turn on the heat (all cultural adaptations), rather than having to evolve a fur coat (a biological adaptation). There are cultural innovations, however, that do not benefit a society. Any behavior that leads to a decrease in the well-being of the members of a culture or in the ability of the culture to survive in the long run is not adaptive. These practices are known as *maladaptive* since they may lead to harmful results. Practices that harm women’s reproductive health, such as female genital cutting (discussed in Chapter 8), are maladaptive even when the practices have been accepted in a society for as long as anyone can remember. Some people find certain maladaptive practices attractive because they are unaware of or ignore long-term health risks due to a desire to “fit in” with standards of beauty. For instance, in the US, artificial tanning attracts consumers who are mostly young, White, and female (CDC, 2012). Yet the American Academy of Dermatology (2022) warns that the use of artificial tanning beds increases the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 58 percent and that women under the age of 30 who tan indoors have six times the risk of malignant melanoma. Melanoma kills more than 8,000 people in North America and over 50,000 globally each year. Not all culture changes are beneficial. ## Table: Assessing the Adaptiveness of Culture | | | |---|---| | Health | How is the physical and mental health of members? Do women get prenatal care to support infant health? | | Demographics | What do birth and mortality rates say *about* the longevity of members? | | Goods and services | Can people get what they need when they need it? Is there access to clean, safe food and water? | | Order | Do people feel safe? Are there systems in place for effectively dealing with violence? | | Enculturation | How well does culture get passed down to the next generation? | *Note*: The more positive the answers are to these questions, the more adaptive a culture is for its members. ## The Functions of Culture Culture has certain functions beyond providing the shared understandings that guide people’s behavior. In any society, the culture should provide for the basic needs of the group. Specifically, aspects of culture (beliefs and behaviors) should serve to support the health and well-being of members and the survival of the culture itself. Since anthropologists take the perspective of cultural relativism, they avoid judging cultures based on their own set of values. Doing this would be ethnocentric and misguided. However, people who study culture can examine whether aspects of a culture are adaptive or maladaptive in an objective way. That is, if aspects of culture are adaptive, they should support the health and well-being of members. If maladaptive, they may lead to ill effects for people or the longevity of the culture itself. To answer this question, an anthropologist might examine the kinds of issues listed in Table 2.1. Of course, not everyone experiences the same level of satisfaction with their culture. Consider two families who have lived in the same city since birth. One family lives in a mansion in a wealthy neighborhood, and another occupies a room in a homeless shelter downtown. Clearly different circumstances within one geographic area lead to some people getting their needs met better than others. For example, the Penobscot people of the area known as Maine have traditionally relied on fish from the Penobscot River as the main staple of their diet. In the twentieth century, non-Native inhabitants of Maine built industrial paper mills along the river. As a result, the runoff from the paper mills polluted the river with dioxins, creating a toxic environment for fish. Dioxin is a chemical that binds to the body’s red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the bloodstream. People who eat food poisoned by dioxins can suffer severe toxicity. Infants may die due to lack of oxygen. The river’s fish could no longer feed the local Penobscot community. However, in recent decades, the tribe has taken steps to preserve their traditional food source and environment. They have partnered with the US Environmental Protection Agency to better monitor and filter the waste from the mills. These changes have substantially increased the health of the river and the people who rely on it. This case shows how an adaptive solution resulted from the fallout of a maladaptive practice. ## Child Rearing The values regarding how children are raised in a society are important to how culture and personality develop. Anthropologists who have studied child rearing across the world have found two general patterns of enculturation: dependence training and independence training. Each type of child rearing contributes to a different set of cultural values and different types of social structure. This is one way in which the integrated nature of culture can be seen clearly. *Dependence training* is that set of child-rearing practices that supports the family unit over the individual. In societies that stress dependence training, children learn the importance of compliance to the family group. Typically, dependence training is taught in societies that value *extended* (or *joint*) families – that is, families in which multiple generations live together with the spouses and children of adult siblings. Family members may work together in a family business or pool resources. In agricultural communities, this may mean that all members of the family are expected to work on the farm. Children may be indulged when they’re young, but they learn quickly that they are part of a unit and must choose the family’s needs over their own. Sometimes these cultural values are referred to as *collectivist* or *communal*. *Independence training* refers to the set of child-rearing practices that foster a child’s sense of individuality. It is typically found in industrial societies, like those in the United States and Canada, and in societies in which earning an income requires moving to where jobs are available. The family unit in independence training societies is typically a *nuclear family* – that is, a family in which only two generations live together (most often parents and children). The individual is seen as an actor who has the right to shape their own destiny. Emphasis is placed on developing the skills and self-worth of each child, so they can be competitive and successful in life. The sense of self is strongly linked to the individual over the group, which can create individual feelings of entitlement. These methods of child-rearing do not necessarily produce more independent children, as the name may suggest. Sometimes these cultural values are referred to as *individualistic*. Anthropologist Dr. Susan Seymour (1999) studied changing family life in the state of Orissa, India, focusing on the roles of women in childcare. At the time of her fieldwork, some residents of the Old Town of Bhubaneswar (a community built around the values of dependence training) had resettled into the New Capital, a more Westernized part of town with secular schools and administrative careers. The division of the community into two separate sociocultural environments had direct consequences on family life. While residents of the Old Town held fast to dependence-training methods and values, residents of the New Capital adjusted to new opportunities, especially for women’s advancement. Women’s educational and employment opportunities resulted in a shift to nuclear, rather than joint, families. More independence training of children resulted. This trend is seen in many societies as modernization occurs. ## Fieldwork Methods and Ethics Cultural anthropologists study culture “in the field.” That is, they live with another group of people for an extended period of time to learn firsthand how the group views the world and behaves within it. They immerse themselves in the culture and daily patterns of life in order to understand how members think, feel, and act. Ethnography isn’t just description, however. What makes it social science is the ability of the ethnographer to situate people's ideas and actions within a larger context of practices and power relations. What are the systems that shape and limit these behaviors? The process begins with a research question (something along the lines of “Why do people do that?”). The anthropologist seeks funding to support the months or years of field study. They spend time preparing for their entry into the field by reading all of the available material on the topic and region, and they may seek contacts to help with introductions to the people they wish to study. The fieldworker may learn the language or decide to work with a translator. Then they begin their fieldwork by immersing themselves in the culture of the people they want to understand. My first field study actually happened by accident. I was an undergraduate college student, traveling in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, when I woke up one morning to find the small town in which I was staying had transformed overnight into a festival scene, with barriers all along the main street. Not having any idea what was going to happen, I followed my instinct as an anthropology student and found a place behind the barrier to wait. Later that day, the streets filled with people, mostly young men, in white t-shirts and red bandanas in anticipation of a bull-running fiesta, like the ones held in Pamplona, Spain. When the alarm sounded and the bulls came tearing down the street, participants screamed and scattered. I was instantly obsessed. I returned the next summer to complete my honors thesis in anthropology on people’s motivations for running with the bulls. Being in the field allows an anthropologist to produce an *ethnography*. Ethnography is both the process and the product, which is most often a document such as an article, book, or film. An ethnography is both a scientific endeavor, because it must produce a valid, rigorously researched representation of people and their behavior, and an artistic endeavor, because it must be written in a way that evokes the reality of the culture. From my research on the bull-running fiesta, I produced a solid thesis paper and a totally mediocre film. That’s why I’m writing this textbook and not making movies. ## Participant Observation In the field, an ethnographer uses a variety of methods to understand another group’s way of life. The main method is called *participant observation*, a process in which a researcher lives with a people and observes their regular activities, often for a year or more with return visits. The ethnographer participates in daily life, while at the same time reflecting on and analyzing their observations. Cultural anthropologists believe there is no substitute for witnessing firsthand how people think and what they do. This is why we look forward to immersing ourselves in a new environment with all the messiness of life and trying to make sense of it. Sometimes it feels that learning a new set of cultural norms is like deciphering a code. The ethnographer’s role is to observe, describe, interpret, and analyze behavior in order for this code to make sense. This is why anthropology relies heavily on fieldwork over surveys and statistics. Surveys can provide a piece of the story, but maybe only the piece that people want to share. Most of the time, information about why people do the things they do is hidden even from themselves. For instance, consider this conversation between ethnographer Dr. Sharyn Graham Davies (2007) and her Indonesian associate, Tukang Becak: *Author: Why are there so many calabai (transgender females) in Sengkang (the local area) ?* *Tukang Becak: Oh, indeed, there are many calabai in Sengkang.* *Author: Why is this?* *Tukang Becak: It’s because people here eat a lot of fish heads.* *Author: Fish heads! Whatever do you mean?* *Tukang Becak: Yeah, fish heads have lots of hormones in them that cause you to become calabai* Davies understood that it wasn’t actually the hormones in fish heads that creates gender identity. But it’s the ethnographer’s role to understand why people think and say the things they do. As a result of her fieldwork, Davies learned that calabai believe that their gender identity is a gift from Allah and a result of fate, not actually of eating too many fish heads. Anthropologists are tasked with discovering people’s patterns of thought and behavior and putting them into a larger cultural context. While doing participant observation, an ethnographer seeks to understand a full picture of the culture. One can approach this goal by asking different kinds of questions, which may be one of three types: * How do people think they should behave? (What are the norms and values in the society?) * How do people say they behave? (Do they say they conform to these standards or not?) * How do people actually behave? (This can be discovered only by long-term fieldwork and trusting relationships with the people involved in the study.) The difference between what people say and what they do is a contrast between *ideal behavior* and *real behavior*. Ideal behavior is the way people think they should behave, while real behavior is the way they actually behave. The differences between the two are interesting to anthropologists, as they show the contrasts between the *values* of society and the *actual behavior* of members. These kinds of questions also get at both cognitive and behavioral data – what people think and what they do. ## Choosing Study Participants For participant observation to result in desired research goals, the ethnographer needs to talk to trusted members of the community. These important individuals in the field study may be called *informants*, *associates*, *interlocutors*, or *study participants*, depending on the anthropologist’s preferred term. Given the circumstances and the study goals, an ethnographer may choose one or more methods of approaching informants. In a *random sample*, the ethnographer’s goal is to allow everyone an equal chance to be interviewed by selecting people randomly. This might best be employed in a small, homogeneous community, or when an average sample is desired. A *judgment sample*, on the other hand, selects informants based on skills, occupation, knowledge, and sensitivity to cultural issues. Finally, a *snowball sample*, in which one informant introduces the ethnographer to other informants, can be very helpful. The fieldworker will usually develop close ties to one or more informants who are chosen for their special insights and then spend a lot of time with them. These crucial contributors to the research are referred to as *key informants* (or *key associates*). They are often people with particularly deep knowledge about the issues the ethnographer is interested in. They often become close friends with whom the fieldworker continues to correspond and collaborate beyond the field study. Under the umbrella of participant observation, many different methods may be used. The fieldworker must be flexible and reflective enough to assess which techniques might work best, whether a technique is working to help answer the research question, and if the approach must be modified. These methods include but are not limited to: * Formal interviews (in which the same set of questions are given to multiple informants) * Informal interviews/conversations (in which the fieldworker seizes an opportunity to ask questions) * Focus groups/town hall meetings * Life histories or other oral histories * Case studies, in which a particular event is examined from multiple perspectives * Quantitative data, such as surveys or statistical data * Kinship data (a family tree or village genealogy) * Map-making Each method lends itself to a certain type of data gathering. Depending on the circumstances and the study goals, one or more techniques may be used at the ethnographer’s discretion. How does an ethnographer make sense of all the various types of cultural input? A researcher in the field jots down notes daily – and often many times a day – on their phone, tablet, or pad of paper to record the things they experience. Ideally before the end of each day, they take some time to build those words, phrases, and images into a richer narrative. Field notes record both objective and subjective data, so the notes reflect both what happens and any thoughts, feelings, or questions about why it is happening. Since an anthropologist may stay in the field for up to a year, writing field notes is essential to remember everyday details. Whereas in the past, ethnographers created paper filing systems for their notes, today digital programs help organize and manage text, images, video, and web links with tags and searchable text that can be stored across devices. ## The Ethics of Fieldwork Some people imagine that doing fieldwork among people is like being “a fly on the wall." In other words, the ethnographer hangs around unobtrusively, watching people go about their daily business, while writing notes. In fact, the situation is generally the opposite, in which the ethnographer gets into the mix of daily life and builds relationships with people. Ethnographers learn by doing – becoming participants in – what they want to learn about. For instance, Dr. Catherine Ingram (Howard & Ingram, 2022) learned to speak and sing in the language of the Kam, a rural minority ethnic group in China. In particular, Dr. Ingram studied Kam “big song,” a traditional genre that transmits cultural, historical, and ecological information. As an outsider, the ethnographer’s presence is keenly felt, especially in the beginning. In fact, community members may not trust the ethnographer at first – they could just as easily be a government agent, come to spy on them. For example, anthropologist Dr. Napoleon Chagnon recalls that his Yanömami informants in the Amazonian rainforest were so suspicious of his motives, they routinely lied about their relationships to family members. In the film *A Man Called Bee* (Asch & Chagnon, 1974), he admits to having to throw out nearly all his kinship data from the first year of fieldwork. Once the hurdle of trust is overcome, other interpersonal problems may arise. For instance, intercultural communication is not always perfect, even if one knows the language. The anthropologist’s intentions may not always be clear. Conversely, the anthropologist may read others’ intentions wrong as well. There are plenty of opportunities for error in judgment and poor decision-making in the process of fieldwork. Therefore, it is crucially important to have a set of guidelines that lay the foundation for interactions with others while in the field. The largest North American organization of anthropologists, the American Anthropological Association (AAA), created such a code of ethics called *Principles of Professional Responsibility* (the latest version may be found at https://americananthro.org/about/policies/statement-on-ethics/). The Principles state that anthropologists must weigh the possible impacts of their actions on the dignity, health, and material well-being of those among whom they work. They must strive to “do no harm." This seems clear enough on the page. Nevertheless, situations can arise when it isn’t clear what the repercussions of a decision might be. It isn’t always easy to navigate potential challenges in the field. This can lead to controversies over whether anthropologists should be involved in certain endeavors at all, such as the conflicts discussed in Chapter 1. ## Applied Anthropology Many working anthropologists apply their knowledge of anthropological methods, theory, and perspectives to solve human problems. This field is called *applied anthropology*. Applied anthropologists work to help find solutions for issues facing people around the world, rather than focusing solely on contributions to research in the discipline. One way to think about this field’s work is “anthropology in