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Fieldwork & Ethnography Panel

a
October 29, 2018
2:00PM - 4:00PM
451 Hagerty Hall (conference room)

Date Range
Add to Calendar 2018-10-29 14:00:00 2018-10-29 16:00:00 Fieldwork & Ethnography Panel Join current folklore graduate students for a panel discussion and Q&A on fieldwork experiences and what to expect (or unexpectedly encounter!) while in the field. Panelists will discuss their fieldwork contexts (their research questions and contexts) as well as a specific topic from their experience that is interesting and helpful for graduate students about to go into the field. PanelistsSarah Craycraft (MA Student, Comparative Studies) will discuss how active participation in the 14th annual Goat Milk Festival in Gorna Bela Rechka, Bulgaria helped to lay the groundwork for future research. She will discuss how the experience of being new in a place where people have built strong bonds by returning year after year for this event, and how participating actively helped her to make space for herself in a somewhat tight-knit group. Though active participation is nothing new for fieldworkers, Sarah believes that what was special about her experience was her willingness to be vulnerable among strangers by sharing personal narratives, moving her from a position of observer to active participant. Sarah will also discuss the trickiness of pacing that goes along with building trust, and how she navigated moments which required slower, more careful participation vs. moments that took a bout of courage for her to join in. Amanda Randhawa (PhD Candidate, Comparative Studies) (topic TBD)Wenyuan Shao (PhD Student, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures) will discuss her research in southwest China and the strategies she uses to reciprocate with the communities with which she resides during fieldwork. She will reflect on her shifting roles as an elementary school teacher to student researcher. 451 Hagerty Hall (conference room) Department of Comparative Studies compstudies@osu.edu America/New_York public

Join current folklore graduate students for a panel discussion and Q&A on fieldwork experiences and what to expect (or unexpectedly encounter!) while in the field. Panelists will discuss their fieldwork contexts (their research questions and contexts) as well as a specific topic from their experience that is interesting and helpful for graduate students about to go into the field. 

Panelists

Sarah Craycraft (MA Student, Comparative Studies) will discuss how active participation in the 14th annual Goat Milk Festival in Gorna Bela Rechka, Bulgaria helped to lay the groundwork for future research. She will discuss how the experience of being new in a place where people have built strong bonds by returning year after year for this event, and how participating actively helped her to make space for herself in a somewhat tight-knit group. Though active participation is nothing new for fieldworkers, Sarah believes that what was special about her experience was her willingness to be vulnerable among strangers by sharing personal narratives, moving her from a position of observer to active participant. Sarah will also discuss the trickiness of pacing that goes along with building trust, and how she navigated moments which required slower, more careful participation vs. moments that took a bout of courage for her to join in. 

Amanda Randhawa (PhD Candidate, Comparative Studies) (topic TBD)

Wenyuan Shao (PhD Student, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures) will discuss her research in southwest China and the strategies she uses to reciprocate with the communities with which she resides during fieldwork. She will reflect on her shifting roles as an elementary school teacher to student researcher.