FieldWorking : Reading and Writing Research

BONNIE STONE SUNSTEIN is professor of English and education at the University of Iowa, where she teaches nonfiction writing, research methods, the teaching of writing, and folklore. She directs the undergraduate nonfiction writing program in the English department and coordinates English education in the College of Education.

ELIZABETH CHISERI-STRATER is a professor of English at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro, where she teaches courses in rhetoric and composition, nonfiction writing, research methods, and English education. She has directed the Composition Program and served as director of graduate studies in the Women's and Gender Studies program.

 

Defining Culture: Fieldwork and Ethnography
Stepping In: Revealing Our Subcultures
     BOX 1: Looking at Subcultures
Investigating Perspectives: Insider and Outsider
Stepping Out: Making the Familiar Strange and the Strange Familiar
     Horace Miner, “Body Ritual of the Nacirema”
     BOX 2: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary
Posing Questions: Ethnographic vs Journalistic
     * Lorraine Ahearn, “Folk ‘Cure’ Sold Locally High on Lead”
     BOX 3: Engaging the Ethnographic Perspective
     * Julie O’Donoghue, “Fairfax Residents Become U.S. Citizens”
Fieldworking with This Book
An Ethnographic Study: “Friday Night at Iowa 80”
     Rick Zollo, “Friday Night at Iowa 80” (Student Project)
* Doing Research Online
FieldWriting: Establishing a Voice
A Community Action Study
     Ivana Nikolic, “House for the Homeless: A Place to Hang Your Hat” (Student Project)
Reflection as Critique
The Research Portfolio: Definitions and Purpose
* Do This: Select a Fieldsite

 

Exploratory Writing
     BOX 4: Freewriting
FieldWriting: Point of View and Rhetoric
Keeping a Notebook
     Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”
     BOX 5: Exploratory Notetaking with a Group
Getting at the Details
     Samuel H. Scudder, “Look at Your Fish”
     BOX 6: Double-Entry Notes
Fieldnotes: The Key to Your Project
     BOX 7: Sharing Your Initial Fieldnotes
Analyzing Your Fieldnotes 
     BOX 8: Questioning Your Fieldnotes
     Amy Lambert, “Feng-Shui: Reflections on a Sociology Class” (Student Project)
Double Voiced FieldNotes
     * H. L. “Bud” Goodall,  “Representing Ethnographic Experiences”
The Research Portfolio: Reflecting on Your Fieldnotes
* Do This: Question Your Notes

Reading Cultures as Text and Texts as Culture
     Gloria Naylor, “Mama Day”
     BOX 9: Responding to Text
Positioning: Reading and Writing About Yourself
     BOX 10: Positioning Yourself
Understanding Positioning: Checking in on Yourself
     BOX 11: Unlearning Our Privilege (Mimi Harvey)
Getting Permission
     BOX 12: From Ethos to Ethics (Julie Cheville)
Reading an Object: The Cultural Artifact
     * BOX 13: Reading an Artifact (Beth Campbell)
The Uses of Cultural Artifacts
     Alice Walker, “Everyday Use”
Responding to Reading
     BOX 14: FieldWorking Book Clubs (Kathleen Ryan)
FieldWriting: Published and Unpublished Written Sources 
Reading Electronic Communities
     * Fieldworking in a Changing Field
     * Elise Wu, “Out Patient”  (Student Project)
* Working with Online Communities
     * BOX 15: Locating Online Cultures
The Research Portfolio: An Option for Rereading
* Do This: Read Your Fieldsite

Personal Geography
     Jamaica Kincaid, “On Seeing Jamaica for the First Time”
     BOX 16: Recalling a Sense of Place
Selective Perception
FieldWriting: The Grammar of Observation
     BOX 17: Writing a Verbal Snapshot
Deepening Description Through Research
     * Jeannie B. Thomas, “The Cemetery as marketplace in Salem, Massachusetts”
Learning How to Look: Mapping Space
      BOX 18: Mapping Space
Learning How to Look: Finding a Focal Point
      BOX 19: Finding a Focal Point
Learning How to Look: Identifying Unity and Tension
      Karen Downing, “Strike a Pose” (Student Project)
Learning How to Look: Colonized Spaces
      Jennifer Hemmingsen, “The Happy Canyon” (Student Project)
The Research Portfolio: Learning from Your Data
      Karen Downing, “A Pose on ‘Strike a Pose’” (Portfolio Reflection)
* Do This: Map Your Space

The Interview: Learning How to Ask
     BOX 20: Using a Cultural Artifact: An Interview 
Learning How to Listen
     * Etiquette for Conducting an Interview
     BOX 21: Establishing Rapport
Recording and Transcribing
     Cindie Marshall, “Ralph’s Sports Bar” (Student Project)
     BOX 22: Analyzing Your Interviewing Skills
The Informant’s Perspective: An Anthropologist on Mars
     Oliver Sacks, “An Anthropologist on Mars”
Gathering Family Stories
     BOX 23: Writing a Family Story
One Family Story: The Core and its Variants
Gathering Oral Histories
     * Nancy Hauserman, “Taking Care”
     * Dave Isay, “Listening is an Act of Love”
     Jennette Edwards, “I Can Read and I Can Write” (online only)
     BOX 24: Starting an Oral History
FieldWriting: Using Character, Setting, and Theme to Create a Portrait
     BOX 25: Writing a Verbal Portrait
The Research Portfolio: Reflective Documentation
* Do This: Reflect on Researching People

Linking Body Language and Culture
     * BOX 26: Observing Body Language: (Amie Ohlmann)
Linking Words and Culture
     Lafcadio Hearn, “Cheek”
     BOX 27: Listening for Words: Creating a Glossary
Using Insider Language in Your Writing
Words as Cultural Artifacts
Researching Occupation: Recording Insider Language
     BOX 28: Describing Occupational Terms
Verbal Performance: Curses
     BOX 29: Gathering Verbal Performances: Proverbs, Jokes, and Saying
Researching Urban Legends
     * Ofelia Zapeda, “A Language Journey”
FieldWriting: Dialogue on the Page
The Research Portfolio: Synthesis
* Do This: Translate Your Work

     * A. Kendra Greene, “Everything Perfectly, Forever” (Student Project)
Family Archives
     Edward Ball, “Slaves in the Family”
     BOX 30: A Box about Boxes
Historical Archives
* University Archives
Museum Archives
     BOX 31: Sorting Through Public Archives 
     Naomi Shihab Nye, “The Attic and its Nails”
Organizing Archival Material
Alternative Archives
     Lars Eighner, “On Dumpster Diving”
     BOX 32: Alternative Archives
Electronic Archives: Using the Internet
FieldWriting: Annotated Bibliographies
The Research Portfolio: Representing the Unflat Stuff
* Do This: Search the Fieldworking Archives

Drafting Drafts
     Anne LaMott, “Shitty First Drafts”
Questioning Your Draft
Thickening Your Draft
     BOX 33: Listening to the Voices in Your Draft (David Seitz)
Representing Culture in Your FieldWriting
Crafting a Text
     * William Harvey Purcell, “Disability is Beautiful”
FieldWriting: Analytic Section Headings
Revising for a Reader
     Donald M. Murray, “Some Notes on Revision”
     BOX 34: Sharing Data: Partners in Revision
The Research Portfolio: One-Page Analysis and Annotated Table of Contents
A Final Comment: Paying Attention to Writing
* Do This: Smooth Your Final Draft

Appendix A: MLA Documentation Guidelines
Appendix B: APA Documentation Guidelines
Appendix C: Works Cited and Recommended Readings