Name: Albert Beretino Reg Number: R104055F

Reading Number 2

Title: Doing Fieldwork: Fieldwork Roles And Rapport

The article explores the challenges the author encountered in conducting fieldwork in the arctic
and Sub-Arctic regions which are moistly occupied by the Eskimos. The aspect of respecting the
protagonists from whom data is solicited is elementary. This eradicates tendencies of name
labeling by the researchers as using names such as “savages” as first used by Malinowski in
conducting his anthropological researches. Creating rapport with the informants is an important
aspect in that it gives the ethnographer the room for consensus with the informants during
fieldwork. It helps the researcher to view the protagonists as people who have the knowledge of
their ethnic’s music and to accommodate their ethical codes during fieldwork. For fieldwork to
be effective one needs to be resourced as it involves a lot of traveling, prolonged stays in the
field of study as well as having ethnographic apparatus such as video cameras, lights and
batteries. Acquaintance with the physical site where the fieldwork will be conducted is important
in that the ethnographer will where to locate the informants as well the challenges that are likely
to be faced when navigating the location of where the ethnography will be conducted such as the
failure to navigate steep mountain pathways. The article reveals that it is also important aspect
that the ethnographer should have the physical map of the place to conduct fieldwork. This
makes the ethnographer to familiarise with the area before making a visit to the physical site to
conduct fieldwork. It is also vital as highlighted in the article that time should be taken into
consideration when planning for fieldwork. However, this can be deterred by the fact that the
longevity of an ethnography varies from area to area. The ethnographer must plan the time to
record a performance on video as well as when to conduct researches so that issues of disorderly
planned schedules are eradicated. Assumptions must not be put in the picture but the issue of
getting knowledge through fieldwork conducted by the researcher aids in being informed about
the real issues researched of an ethnic’s music under study during fieldwork. Language is a
challenge which need the ethnographer to have an understanding of the language of
communication used by the protagonist as all cannot use English but their vernacular language
which will need a translator to translate what is communicated by the informant during an
interview or perfo