Homework for September 15th

Foster and Kemper article, pg. 5-19

The article by Foster and Kemper describes how the study of urban anthropology has developed over the years. It started with fieldwork in the rural areas, and from that experience, it helped broaden the field of studying in urban areas. Most fieldwork in the urban areas started after WWII. Anthropology has evolved over a period of time. First, anthropologists were only interested in primitive people and cultures, then it grew to peasant societies and rural areas, and finally it grew to the cities.

Starting out in the field can be difficult. Anthropologists have to find the right area in which they want to gather information. They have to overcome culture shock and work to meet people to interview. Finding the right informants and then networking is a huge part of fieldwork.

I am thankful for all of the studies anthropologists have done to figure out communities and work to make them better.

Bestor article, pg. 20-35

Ted Bestor’s article focused on his studies of Tokyo, Japan and the way common people live there. Although Tokyo is the center of contemporary Japanese life, Bestor want to study and experience the way the communities in the city behaved. He had difficulty in finding the perfect place to settle down and conduct his research. One of the people he met there was able to point out a great neighborhood that was a mix of many kinds of people.

Networking was a large part of his studies. Who he met and whom they introduced him to was very important in getting his questions answered and in giving him a lot of information he needed. He was able to make great friends by helping out in the community instead of just always observing. It built trust with the Japanese. He learned that asking questions over and over again all the time eventually turned up the answers he was looking for. Networking also really helped him learn about the Tsukiji wholesale seafood market – the largest seafood market in the world.

Another way he did his research was by reading signs and observing homes and buildings. In Japan you can find a lot about a home if you read the signs on the houses. You can figure out if someone passed away recently or if someone is famous or a big part of the community.

I think Bestor had wonderful techniques to figuring out this Japanese community. He was very thorough and made himself apart of the community.

Gmelch and Gmelch, pg. 82-96

This article showed the big differences in cities vs. rural areas. There were two groups of students doing fieldwork in Barbados and Tasmania. This article showed the differences of the data found out by the students and the difficulty each group had. Students in the city felt as if they didn’t really understand the community they were living in because they weren’t in everyday contact with their informants and there were a lot of distractions for them. The students in the rural area had very intimate contact with people. They were able to spend lots of time gathering information and learning about the community. They did run into some problems though with privacy issues because the community was so close knit.

I think that this research was very interesting and I enjoyed reading about the contrasts of both communities and what the students learned.