Fieldwork: preparing for the good, bad, and the ugly

From Anthropology Matters come this article by Amy Pollard: "Field of screams: difficulty and ethnographic fieldwork."

As explained in the abstract, many novice field researchers -- here, PhD students -- are often unprepared for the emotional toll of this staple of our discipline: the long-term, immersive field research trip.

Ethnographic fieldwork can be a time of intense vulnerability for PhD students. Often alone and in an unfamiliar context, they may face challenges that their pre-fieldwork training has done little to prepare them for. This study seeks to document some of the difficulties that PhD anthropologists at three UK universities have faced. It describes a range of feelings as experienced by 16 interviewees: alone, ashamed, bereaved, betrayed, depressed, desperate, disappointed, disturbed, embarrassed, fearful, frustrated, guilty, harassed, homeless, paranoid, regretful, silenced, stressed, trapped, uncomfortable, unprepared, unsupported, and unwell. The paper concludes with a set of questions for prospective fieldworkers, a reflection on the dilemmas faced by supervisors and university departments, and a proposal for action.

This piece should be essential reading for all students and advisors, including the concluding "Questions for PhD students" and notes on Supervisor and Departmental Dilemmas.

Quick links and further reading:

• Amy Pollard, "Field of screams: difficulty and ethnographic fieldwork" (Anthropology Matters, 2009)
• Past anthro everywhere! posts on doing ethnography:
• Book Report Entry #1: Field notes: A Guided Journal for Doing Anthropology (20 February 2017)
• Doing anthropology everywhere (14 November 2016)
• Blogging for research (9 January 2017)
• Podcasting (ethnography) in the classroom (11 July 2016)
• Other Advice for Grad Students including on Grad Student Wellness (anthro everywhere!)

Resource: Transitioning from high school to post-secondary education

Many students struggle with culture shock as they make the transition between high school and post-secondary education. New freedoms for many students living away from home for the first time also mean new responsibilities and stresses. To this end, teenmentalhealth.org has created their Transitions resource to provide students with information and support strategies. From their website:

“Transitions”, the first publication of its kind,  provides first-year students with information on topics including time management, relationships, sexual activity, mental illness, suicide and addictions. The guide also includes mental health self-help information and contains recommendations where students can go to get help on their campus. 

Free for download as .pdf in book or pocket (mobile) versions, instructors may be interested in sharing this resource with their students, or checking out their Resources for Educators.

Quick links:

• Transitions (book and pocket versions) for download
• teenmentalhealth.org website with additional resources and links
• Resources for Educators
• Resources for Parents
• Resources for Friends

How to email your professor

"How to Email Your Professor (without being annoying AF)" (Medium.com) by former professor turned academic writing consultant Laura Portwood-Stacer provides an easy step-by-step guide for students on professional email writing. I like this piece because it not only gives a template for communicating professionally, but explains why crafting an email to your prof (or later, professional colleagues or clients) in this way matters.

For first year students especially, coming to university can be a huge culture shock as they learn the norms, expectations, and etiquette of a new institutional culture. On top of this, many instructors often assume skills and knowledge that students may not have been taught. While our millennial students may be 'digital natives', this doesn't mean that they innately know how we expect them to interact through digital media, such as the etiquette of emailing your university professor.

Instructors may wish to include a link to this in their course websites or digital syllabi. Alternatively, I could see this article being incorporated into a lecture on culture shock that uses the first-year at university experience as an example for students to think reflexively about this anthropological concept in their own lives.