Simone
Do you think uncomfortable moments make for a better ethnography?

Gabriela
"It was difficult being so dependent" I was worried by the idea of what anthropologists were supposed to do. I thought I should be going door to door, meeting everyone in the vicinity, and conducting surveys." What kind of struggles is the author facing and how should someone performing anthropology research conduct themselves to obtain best results?

Liz
Do you agree with the author’s notion that the Balinese cockfights can be treated as a sort of “text”, which we can then examine and interpret?

Tom
How do ethics come into play as anthropologists study illegal activity?

Allison
The anthropologist in this takes on a very specific role as a daughter. Does an anthropologist always have to pick a role? Are there any situations in which it is not necessary, and full assimilation is possible?

Scott
Geertz's opens this excerpt relating cockfighting to Western games.  He also claims that it is only illegal as a result of imperial rule in Bali, trying to "purify" the colonists.  In ways it seems that he is justifying the practice of cockfighting in Bali because of its cultural value.  However, it is hard for me to relate to this claim.  Is there a point where cultural relativism no longer applies to a situation?  Are there such things as universal norms?

Suzanne
Lughod explains on page 9 that, "...on a day when people are busy and you are alone in a desolate landscape, suffering from fever and being eaten alive by fleas or annoyed by a child poking fun at you, the question of whether this is the experience that carries such dignified labels as "research" or the more scientistic "data collection" nags." Do you think fieldwork is many times or perhaps in general romanticized?

Laura
In the article, the author states in reference to her ethnographic experience in the Middle East: "I conformed to the same standards of propriety their women did, meaning that I was restricted in where I could go, by whom I could be seen, and with whom I could speak" (14-15).  Is conforming to such social standards of the society being observed a suggested method for an anthropologist?  Is this seen as being a form of "good" ethnography?

Juliet
"I was worried by the idea of what anthropologists were supposed to do." Are there things that anthropologists are "supposed to be doing?" In class we continue to discuss what makes good ethnographic research. However, is it possible to define research as "good" in a broad sense, without creating strict instructions for ethnographers to follow?

Tom
The author discusses her difficulties becoming close with the men in the group because there is not much which would be considered polite to talk about, however the women were very open. Now suppose we were doing a reading which portrayed an entire society as being reserved, much like the Bedouin men, how can the anthropologist be sure that the society is simply unwelcoming rather than reserved?

Kyle
Lughod speaks a bit about what it means to be a rookie anthropologist, actually mentioning that it takes a bit of luck to acquire the right kind of research. Is good anthropological reaserch lucky? What happens if one spends a significant amount of time in a community or different culture and comes up with nothing of value?

Kyle
Can an anthropologist do research that leads to nothing significant, however write about it so it sounds like something important and become famous because of that?

Brittany
In the beginning, why does the author describe what you "might" see instead of giving specific examples of what she actually sees?

Ali
How does Lughod's passive voice affect the reading?

Bijal
"I felt compelled to lie to them about many aspects of my life in the United States simply because they could not have helped judging it and me in their own terms, by which  my reputation would have suffered. (pg 18)" Do you think this concept applies to all ethnographic researchers?

Emily
In Lughod's piece, she consistently explains the idea that her relationship with the people is asymmetrical. She pretends to be someone she is not, and slowly becomes someone different throughout this whole experience. Is this necessary to do when entering a new culture? Are ethnographer's expected to hide parts of themselves in order to become accepted into the culture? Does one have to abandon themselves and become something that the people being studied want?

Shane
Would she have been able to pull off this study without the introduction? Does it take away from the authenticity of her research? If not, do you think that her study was skewed and/or limited?
Rebecca
Unlike the anthropologists in the other articles we have read, Lila Abu Lughod could literally immerse herself within the chosen culture, as she was a Muslim and an Arab.  However, the natives still felt no shame in criticizing her for her Western tendencies: “Many times during my stay I was confronted with the critical importance of the shared Muslim identity in the community’s acceptance of me.  As always, the old women and the young children bluntly stated what most adults were too polite to say.  The hostility they felt toward Europeans came out in the children’s violent objections to my listening to English radio broadcasts…” (13).  The excerpt goes on.  Do you think Abu Lughod’s similarity to the natives made them more inclined to be critical of her for breaching their norms?  If so, why, and if not, what caused this openness?

Brittany
Why must one have experience in order to be a true anthropologist? Can't one study all the information necessary to become an anthropologist, and be called an anthropologist, without actually doing fieldwork?

Liz
“However much one moves in the direction of participation, it is always the case that one is still both an outsider and an observer...no matter how far ‘participation’ may push the anthropologist in the direction of Not-Otherness, the context is still ultimately dictated by ‘observation’ and externality” (79).  Do you agree with this notion? If so, is it ever really possible for an anthologist to fully understand another culture?

Mary
Is it essential for an anthropologist to have a purpose when they go somewhere to conduct research? It seems as though Rabinow struggles with understanding what his purpose is.

Breyon
Was the incident at the wedding the wedding as significant as the incident with the cockfighting? Does and anthropologist need to have some type of misunderstanding or altercation in order to become closer with the informant?

Gabriela
"At that time, of course, things were anything but neat and coherent. At this time, I have made them seem that way so as to salvage some meaning f
rom that period for myself and for others." What does it mean for anthropology research to have meaning? Is field research bad if it does not have a definite meaning?

Laura
It is asserted in the reading that "fieldwork is a dialectic between reflection and immediacy.  Both are cultural constructs" (38).  Why are reflection and immediacy considered to be cultural constructs?  

Allison
"...he knew that the more he did for me the more I was dependent on him, the more I would reciprocate, the more I became 'his' anthropologist." Is it okay to become a subject's anthropologist? How will this affect an anthropologist's work?

Emily
"If the informant was always right, then by implication the anthropoligst had to become a sort of non-person, or more accurately a total persona" (46). Does being an anthropologist mean that one must get stepped on and possibly live in misery? And further, is it possible to become a non-person?

Suzanne
In one of our earlier classes we discussed how being socially rather strange and awkward can be somewhat beneficial to being an anthropologist doing field work. Do you believe the same is true for "informants" like Ali?  Ali is described by Rabinow as "not the average villager, he was far from the solid-citizen stereotype...(p.73)." Does it make talking about their culture from a more critical standpoint easier since they are not an average, accepted part of society?

Michelle
On page 45, Bellah says “the informant is always right.” Do you agree with this statement? Is there a line that must be drawn by an ethnographer in which they are no longer comfortable, or must they always (like this example) attempt to conform to the culture they are studying?

Liz
“The book was treated by anthropologists either as a fine piece of French literature or, snidely and true to form, as an overcompensation for the author’s shortcomings in the bush” (4).  This quote reminded me of last class when we were discussing bad anthropology and what makes bad anthropology.  How can we objectively determine which pieces of literature qualify as bad anthropology?

Scott
Should anthropology be classified as a "social science"? Should the scientific method be applied to the field? Should anthropology be its own special type of study?  Is it possible (or necessary) for anthropology to become scientific?

Stacey
Where is the line between informant, friend, and anthropologist?  Is their a difference?  Are their any moral issues with this?
Christina
The paragraph that starts on page 38 and runs onto page 39 explained  exactly what I was thinking.  I wondered as I read whether the need  for Ali to explain all of his day to day experiences was really the  most truthful representation and understanding of them.  Often times  when you have an experience, you will in retrospect give it some  meaning that you probably never would have, had you not been  questioned about it.  Are your understandings of the event and the  meaning you create for and attribute to it in that case true? Real?   Anthropologists are of course limited in the way they can attain  information during their research, but can you think of more effective  ways than having a "guide" that self-reflects on all his day to day  rituals and their meanings?  What do you think about the end of page  39 when Rabinow says "the common understanding they construct is  
fragile and thin, but it is upon this shaky ground that  anthropological inquiry proceeds?"

Danielle
On page 48, Rabinow writes about what it means to be a good host and how the guest acknowledges the power of the host. Do you think that the host or the guest is the one that holds the power since the guest is the one that gives the host the power in order to form the relationship of domination?