[Stefan Helmreich:] The word fieldwork is
an interesting word
to use to describe what it
is that anthropologists do,
because it's a term
that's borrowed
[background speech inaudible] from the natural sciences.
And it's meant to
contrast with lab work.
[Erica James:] Mostly, it's a lot of talking.
It's observing conversations
that people are having.
[Heather Paxson:] Not only as anthropologists do
we talk to people and ask them
what they think, but
we do things with them
alongside them.
So, it's about connecting
aspects of social life
and cultural life that people
don't automatically connect.
I think that's what
anthropology does.
[Erica James:] It's a process of trying
to gather information
where you realize things
are not always apparent,
and it's only by being
there as much as possible
on a regular basis that you
can sometimes get a glimpse
into people's inner lives.
[Non-English background speech]
[Erica James] OK, I'm coming to visit you all.
I'm doing fieldwork at a Haitian
social service organization
that has historically served
Haitian refugees and immigrants
in the greater Boston area.
I thought it was a
very interesting site
to think about in
terms of questions
that came up in the research
that I had done in Haiti.
How is it that
communities of Haitians
who were able to
leave Haiti, were
able to re-establish new
lives in another country,
learn to negotiate a whole new
system, a whole new culture,
new language.
So I'm trying to see, what
does it mean to be an American?
What does it mean
to be a citizen?
What does it mean to be
an American for those who
are coming from abroad here?
[Heather Paxson:] We're in Londonderry, Vermont, to study the culture and economy
of farmstead and artisan
cheesemaking
in the United States.
One thing that I'm
interested in looking at
is how people learn
how to make cheese.
And some people have made cheese
in their kitchens for years.
Others have this
idea that they're
going to go into business, [laughs]
and they take courses,
and they read books, and sort
of approach it more formally.
So do you have a
working definition
of what makes an artisan
cheese an artisan cheese?
[Peter Dixon:] I don't.
I think as long as
you've got a cheesemaker
using his or her
hands in the process,
and using your senses to
determine when to move on
to a next step, it's artisan.
And I can't really define
it any better that.
[Heather Paxson:] So it's an interesting
place to look at expertise,
because its expert knowledge
is not a guarantee that you're
going to make a good cheese.
[Peter Dixon:] We put it in at around 9:45.
[Heather Paxson] 9:45.
Yeah.
Some people measure temperature
and they're very fastidious,
and they only do what is
the next step when the pH is
at exactly the right point.
And other people just
say: OK, it's ready.
[Peter Dixon:] You know, not all cheese
makers are good at math.
Their eyes drift off, [Heather background laughter] you know, when you start to talk numbers
[Stefan Helmreich:] And so you've taken cellular
material or genetic material
from the life in
that swath of ocean,
and you've brought it here.
[Marine Biologist:] Absolutely.
[Stefan Helmreich:] So what is-- what happens
when you bring it here?
[inaudible background speech]
To do fieldwork among scientists and among marine biologists
that I worked with in
particular entailed engaging
with their everyday
practice, which
meant doing things in
the laboratory with them,
doing things at sea.
So I went on a number
of research cruises
with them to answer
particular questions,
ecological questions.
I was able to dive in the
research submersible Alvin,
which is a small, seven foot
in diameter, titanium bubble.
I want to know, in this moment
of environmental crisis,
global warming,
what the ocean looks
like to the scientists
who describe it.
So I'm looking at the
practice of a production
of authoritative knowledge
about, in this case,
the ocean world.
[Erica James:] What do you think has been some
of the challenges in trying
to get like, adequate health
information to the people
that you serve?
[Joni Shaw:] The people, unfortunately,
who are being left out
are those undocumented,
because you need
the added proof of citizenship.
[Erica James:] One of the things that
is a constant theme
in this building of this program
is questions of citizenship.
Citizenship education,
knowledge about law,
knowledge about rights--
all of those are central
themes to security.
[Saul Augustin:] And that's if, for
example, you have all this.
You call sick.
They still pay you.
He calls in sick, and
they don't pay him.
What is it that you have
that he doesn't have?
[Student] Benefit?
[Saul Augustin:] Yeah, yeah.
[Erica James] It's been interesting
to see what
is it like for
people who are living
in those, kind of, gray spaces
of illegality, in a way.
I think anthropologists
today, many of them
are looking at questions of
law, questions of health,
questions of relations of
power between the sexes.
Those are all ethical
and moral questions.
Would you say there's a
lot of discrimination-- [group says "Yes"]
you know that word-- against
Haitians? Or against immigrants?
Or against who?
[Group Member:] Imigran. [EJ:] Imi...
[Group Member:] I think immigrants.
[Erica James] So in many ways,
anthropologists can shed light
[Group Member: inaudible] on dimensions of
human experience
that are not readily apparent.
[Heather Paxson:] We participate.
We observe.
We watch.
We use our own subjective
and first hand experience.
[Heather Paxson:] There it is.
[Peter Dixson:] The bambino, as the
Italians call it.
The baby cheese.
[HP:] So when I'm helping
make cheese, that's
participant
observation, which is
an important part of fieldwork.
I don't think I could
have really gotten
how physical the work is until
I sterilized 20 milk cans, which
are very heavy and they have
to be sterilized incredibly
carefully.
You're really, really
invested and concerned
and curious to
the point that you
want to experience it yourself.
And then it helps you
to ask better questions,
more informed questions.
[SH:] So in some interesting
ways, the transformation
of lab techniques, and the
coming online of genomics
and bioinformatics
has changed the way
that you shuttle back and
forth between lab and field?
Would you say that that's true?
[Ed DeLong] Um, Yeah.
I would say that that's
absolutely true, too.
[SH] Mm-hmm.
[ED] I think the view
of a lot of us now
is that it's this
iterative cycle almost.
You make some observations--
and this is how it's always
worked actually-- you have
to go back to the field,
to the ocean to test
your predictions
for those observations.
[SH:] I think the surprising
thing for me
in doing anthropological
fieldwork
among marine biologists was
how similar our questions were
about fieldwork itself.
How is it that you do
extended research in the field
and come up with
a story about what
it is you're trying to describe
that's at all representative?
[SH]: So - oceanography and ethnography
both share the conundrum
of how to represent the world.
[ED:] So in.. in a very real sense,
despite our abilities
to sense molecules indirectly or
our ability to sense the ocean
from space--
Right.
--actually going out on
ships is, in my opinion,
going to continue
to remain important.
[Speaker 1] Goodbye, Atlantis.
[Speaker 2] Bye!
[Speaker 1] Well, we're under.
[Erica James] What fieldwork
allows, in my view,
is a way to see what's not
generally on the surface.
It's a very demanding
process, but it's, for me,
very rewarding to be able to
work with people and for them
to trust you enough to
allow you into their lives.
I think that's kind of the
most fruitful part for me.
[SYNTH MUSIC PLAYING]
