Cultural Anthropology

R.I.T. Instructor: Abe Johnson

Field Project Assignment

Proposals Due: 2/10/25

Projects Due: Monday, 4/7/25

The Field Project will be an exercise for students to conduct fieldwork by going out in "the field" using one of the 3
types of projects outlined and practice field methods and learn something about another culture or group. You will do
this by observing their behavior and interviewing people from a particular subculture. You will end the project by
writing a paper describing your fieldwork and what you learned. Using the guidelines from one of the 3 types of
projects offered your field project can be a on any topic or group that you've thought of yourself and that your
instructor approves of. These people should be available for study in the Monroe County area, or by phone, email,
Zoom or Skype. Background information for this paper should be found through library research, internet research,
and interviews and surveys. Anthropological research for this paper should be conducted using the 10 steps in
Anthropological Investigation.

Steps in Anthropological Investigation:

1. Define the topic. 5. Consider the ethical issues involved in the research.
2. Find out what has already been written about the 6. Choose the research method: Surveys, Interviews.
topic. 7. Gather your data.
3. Assess the requirements for carrying out the 8. Interpret the findings.
research. 9. State the conclusion based on your findings.
4. Specify questions you are going to ask. 10. Write your paper and turn it in on time.

Requirements:
Project Proposal: A short proposal of what topic you plan to research and orally present is required to be turned in
before. This should be around one page in length stating what your topic and your research design is in written form.
It is also an abstract of what you expect from your project. It should convince readers of the possibilities and
relevance of your research. Your research proposal should explain and describe the first 6 steps of your
Anthropological Investigation including how you will conduct step 7: gathering your data or information. This
proposal will be given back to you if the topic is approved by the instructor. If the topic does not seem appropriate to
the instructor, then the proposal will be handed back to the student and he or she will have to turn in another proposal.
A proposal must be turned in before you can begin your fieldwork, or I will not allow you to do the presentation or read
your paper. If you have spoken to me before and I have verbally approved your topic then this is acceptable for you to
begin you fieldwork. If there are any questions about topics do not hesitate to ask questions after class or meet with the
instructor during office hours or by appointment.
  You are required to interview at least one person for your Project. You will have to get written permission
from your subjects in the form of a consent form. You should explain your project, it's connection to the
college and then explain the consent form to your informants. Make sure your informants read everything on
the form and that they sign it and you sign it as well.

Presentation of Field Project

2 Parts

 1. Oral Presentation: Everyone doing a field project must do an oral presentation for the class. In the
Presentation you should summarize what you did for your fieldwork and what you learned. It should be about
5 minutes in length. Please have fun with your presentations! You can use any demonstrations, visuals,
audio, PowerPoint presentations, or even dress in costume to go along with your talk. You will be graded on
content, communication of ideas and information, creativity, presentation and preparation.

 2. Project Paper: Your finished Field Project paper should describe what you learned and observed from
the people you interviewed. It should also address the background and history of the group or subject you
have chosen. You should have a clear introduction explaining what type of project you chose and what your
research consisted of. You do not need an abstract at the beginning. Remember, no single word pages at the
end, large fonts, or large margins to extend your paper. Do not write too much on one area of the topic and
leave out critical information, background in other areas. At least 3 outside references, not including your
textbook should be used in this Field/Research paper as well. Finally, somewhere in the body of your paper
you should explain the relevance of your chosen topic, why this topic is related to Cultural Anthropology.

Choose a Topic: When selecting a topic consider two points: choose something that interests you and
contributes to your knowledge; and choose something with easy accessibility. Try to avoid projects where you are
interviewing strangers at first. Instead find a friend, acquaintance, or friend of a friend to introduce you, or study a
group of people with which the student already is familiar. Interviewing strangers will be allowed if the proposal
seems particularly interesting, promising, and the topic is not overly sensitive and not at all dangerous. Ask yourself
these questions:

1. Is the research topic too controversial or sensitive for even an experienced researcher?
2. Will the research intrude on the privacy of others. If so, is this intrusion warranted?
3. Do you have the skills and background information necessary to do the research?
4. Has the research topic been narrowed sufficiently so that you can carry out the research in the
time available?
5. Are the methods you plan on using appropriate for the proposed topic?

 Choose from these 3 types of Projects:

1. Kinship Study: Interview someone and make as complete a genealogical chart for him or her as possible.
If possible work with an informant from another culture who has a reasonably large number of relatives. Assign
appropriate terms to each individual - the full name, the term of reference, such as "cousin," the term he or she uses
when speaking about the person to a third party, the term he or she uses when addressing the person in question, such
as "Mom," "Slim," or "Uncle Joe." Ask your informant whether lumping people under a single term like "cousin" even
if they are of different sexes makes them socially or behaviorally distinguished. Discuss how relatives have been
recruited by marriage, adoption, and so on. Does he or she have fictive kin? If so, what is the nature of their ties to one
another? Give some family background and history as well. Also, specific family traditions and holidays should also
be included. Finally, you can round out the paper with background information on your informants’ country of origin
and compare it to the information they give you.

2. In Depth Interview: Your project is to select a specialist who will agree to be your informant in
showing you how to do a particular thing, and in discussing with you the social and cultural implications of that thing.
Do not choose a skill or craft that requires a lot of abstract explanation. Choose someone with a craft that results in a
concrete product. Be sure your informant is one who does this thing frequently , as a profession, hobby, cultural or
religious ceremony, and who knows something about it beyond following directions in a how-to manual. Think of
these questions when interviewing: What do people do in the culture/group under study? How do they do it? What do
they think about the place of their product or service in the larger scheme of things? The report should be in two parts.
The first should be a step-by-step description of how the product is fashioned. You may use a sequence of photos. The
second part should be a somewhat more general discussion of what the informant does with the product, what he or she
thinks the product is worth, and how they interact with the people who buy or use the product. You should attempt to
find out the values and attitudes that are attached to this craft in the informant's society.

3. Participant Observation. Only by becoming a participant observer in some cultural setting can one
fully appreciate what it means to be an anthropologist out in the field. It will be impossible for you to embark upon a
sustained residence in a community, but in order to get the "feel" of participant observation you can spend some extra
time getting acquainted with a slightly alien cultural environment. You should select some activity with which you are
not personally familiar. The services of a religious group with whose form of worship you are not familiar are
particularly good, because religion is such an important social and cultural feature of the lives of so many people, and
because each religion tends to have its own particular practices, customs, personnel, etc... making it a miniature cultural
system in some ways.

Try and make a mini-ethnography, or description of the culture you are observing using the following questions:

1. What group did you study? 10. Is there a political system used? If so, then what
2. Is one language spoken in the group or many? Or if type?
not, how do they communicate? 11. Is warfare part of their society? If so, how?
3. What is the group’s origin? 12. Does this group believe in the supernatural? If so,
4. Where does the group live usually? Geographically what do they believe?
or in what structures? 13. Do they have some type of religion? If so, how is
5. What type of family organization does this group it organized etc...?
have? 14. Are there any types of initiation rituals or rites of
6. Is there any type of marriage practiced? If so, what passage?
kind? 15. Is there any type of graphic or material art done by
7. What type of subsistence strategy do they use? the culture? If so, then what and where does it appear
8. Is there a division of labor based on sex or social and of what type is it?
status? 16. Does this culture have a Master Symbol, something
9. Is there some type of social class or status? If so, that defines the group?
then what type?
You can study any group religious or not, as long as it seems appropriate by the instructor. You should go to
the groups' leader, priest, or people in charge to establish the fact that you are studying the group for a college course,
not necessarily for your own salvation to make yourself more comfortable and to follow A.A.A. ethical guidelines. In
all cases, your entry into the group will be considerably eased if you make the prior acquaintance of a member who
could then be your initial guide, introducing you to fellow members and reassuring them about your motives.
Remember, you are not entering into the groups meetings not merely to observe the rituals and practices, and chart the
interactions as in #1- you are to be a participant in the activities as much as you can or feel comfortable doing. Try and
find some "key informants" who are especially knowledgeable about the group and interview them one time.

Try and answer some of the most appropriate questions from the list above. Also, think of these questions
when first observing the group:
1. What is the physical layout of the meeting place? 7. What are the aspects of ceremonialism?
2. Where is it held? 8. Who does what?
3. How is the room arranged? 9. How did people become members?
4. What furniture or other paraphernalia are present? 10. Why are they members?
5. How many people are attending? 11. How often do they participate?
6. Relative numbers of men, women, adults, children, 12. Are they there with family, friends, or alone?
blacks, whites etc...?

Conducting Surveys & Interviews

For this project students are going out in the field to gain some experience in studying, observing and
interacting with some aspect of society or culture. This can be done through the use of surveys, or interviews. You
should visit any field site or Key informant at least twice, (two times). I know everyone has busy schedules but this
shouldn't be a problem. If you visit more than twice or interview more than 2 people then I will consider that extra
credit.
You are required to interview at least one person for your Project. You will have to get written permission
from your subjects in the form of a consent form. You should explain your project, its connection to the college and
then explain the consent form to your informants. Make sure your informants read everything on the form and that
they sign it and you sign it as well. Examples of these forms will be provided if you are using them. These consent
forms should be turned in with your paper. You should review the section on ethics in the fieldwork handout as well as
look at the section on ethics on the American Anthropological Association's web site before doing fieldwork.
Remember you are representing the college and you instructor out in the field. Make sure you are always
respectful and polite when approaching members of a group passing out surveys, or conducting interviews. Please
remember not to put yourself in difficult or harmful situations while doing this project. Also remember your instructor
can only advise you not to do fieldwork that puts you in danger. You are responsible for your own actions. If you do
something that gets you injured or arrested then (the course instructor & the college) are not, and cannot be held
responsible.

Surveys: If you are using a questionnaire to conduct a survey you should make up your own. The questionnaires
should have R.I.T. on the heading somewhere in order to legitimize the survey and let people know that it will be used
for a college course. These questionnaires should be given to a reasonable sample of the population. Do not obtain
more than 50, or less than 20 answered questionnaires. Your instructor can make copies of
your questionnaires for you to save on copying costs. Also avoid using leading questions that encourage the respondent
to select one answer over another. Show your instructor a copy of your questionnaire if you have questions.

Interviews: The design of the interview is geared toward acquiring information that provides ethnographic data.
Interview design must include considerations of location, time spent in interviewing, kind of questions asked and the
types of informants to be interviewed. J.P. Spradley's book The Ethnographic Interview states: "Informants provide a
model for the ethnographer to imitate" so that the ethnographer can learn to adopt the emic perspective, and
"informants are a source of information." As stated above, you must get written permission from the people you
interview before you do so. You can interview only 1 person if you are doing project #1, or #2, you must interview at
least 2 people if you are doing project #3. Make sure you use an interview guide with all of your questions on it so you
can have all your questions ready to ask. You can use a digital device to record interviews as well, but make sure you
ask your informants if you can record them and have that listed in the consent form they sign. Also avoid using leading
questions that encourage the respondent to select one answer over another. Make sure you turn in the completed
consent forms with your paper. Make sure you do not include the subject’s actual name on these forms, in your paper
or in your presentation. Use pseudonyms for the informants you interview.

Paper Guidelines
 Length & Format: The actual write-up of your Field Project must be at least 7 typed double spaced pages,
not including the References page at the end. It should be stapled together in the upper left hand corner. No
plastic binders or composition covers will be accepted If your paper is not stapled or has a plastic binder
around it, I will take 5 points off your final paper grade to start with. I encourage everyone who doesn’t own a
computer to utilize the college’s computer in writing their papers or to learn word processing.

 General Guidelines: Your Field Project write-ups must be typed. Set the typewriter or word processor to
double space and keep it there throughout the entire manuscript. Use one-inch margins on the left, right, top,
and bottom of the page. These margins are wide in order to leave room for reviewer's comments. Use normal
paragraphs in which the first line is indented five characters for all paragraphs in the manuscript. Use a 12-
point font. In other words, there should be 10 typed characters per inch.

 Style: I would like everyone to use APA Standard Style when writing your paper. Social science
research is a public venture. Therefore, one of the essential skills of the scientist is to be able to communicate
ideas and research results effectively. Assume you are writing the paper for submission to a scientific journal,
perhaps the American Anthropologist. A lot of the formatting details can be learned by carefully modeling
another APA or AAA journal article or by reading the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association published by the American Psychological Association (5-th edition) (2001). That 368-page book
is an extensive and invaluable resource for students engaged in serious social science research, and if guides
like this one do not suffice; students should purchase the APA Publication Manual for their own use
(approximately $22 in paperback) or borrow it from a library. Copies should be available in college and
university libraries and in municipal libraries. There are also many web sites that can help you when
referencing in this format.

 Spelling and Punctuation and Grammar: Please check the spelling, punctuation, and grammar of your
paper before turning it in. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar will be graded on, and mistakes will count
against the paper grade. You must use complete sentences. The first sentence of a paragraph must be
independent (able to stand on its own). Try not to use slang (e.g., ...put a damper on...). Do not use
contractions. That is, instead of it's, use it is. If you are doubtful about the spelling of a word, do not guess.
Look up the correct spelling in an appropriate reference source (e.g., Merriam-Webster.com). Proofread the
copy that you submit and do correct minor typographical errors, formatting, spelling, or even the wording.
Get friends to read it. If they cannot understand it, then it needs work. If you cannot get a friend to read it, then
try to read it yourself making believe that you are naive.

 Organization: Your paper must be well organized. I will look to see if it “flows” well from one idea to the
next. Does everything make sense? Have you covered the topic adequately? Do you have enough references
and specific examples in your paper? Remember, this is a Research Paper; you need to do research and show
me that you have done it.
  References: At least 3 outside references, not including your textbook should be used in this
Field/Research paper. Please check out or use at least 3 different books, journals, magazines, newspapers, or
even web sites as sources for your information. Do not use all Internet sources for your references.

 Remember, if you do not turn in a paper you will receive a zero for that portion of the grade and it will
greatly affect your final grade!

Consent Form

I, ____________________________, agree to speak to __________________, a student in the

Anthropology Department at RIT, about my life as a member of ____________________________. I
understand the reasons for this study as outlined by __________________. During this interview I will be
referred to as _________________. I realize that my name will be replaced with this pseudonym when
direct quotes or transcriptions from interviews are used in the written study.
I realize that my participation in this research is voluntary and that I can refuse to answer any
question at any time and that I can stop my aid to the project at any time. The only payment I will receive for
talking to ___________________ may be in the form of food or refreshments purchased or brought to the
locations of the interviews. I also understand that nothing harmful will happen to me during the course of
these interviews, which are just a discussion with _______________ and myself individually.
I am aware that these interviews may be recorded. I give ________________ permission to use the
files and transcripts of these interviews for use in their research project. If _________________ wishes to
release these files, transcripts to anyone or publish any portions of these transcripts then he will need written
consent from myself. I realize that __________________ will retain possession of the interview audio files
and transcripts in a secure location which no one else has access to. I know ________________ will retain
possession of the interview files for this semester and at the end of that time he/she will destroy/delete them.
If I have any questions or problems with the way this research is conducted I am free to express
them to _______________. If I have any questions about my rights as a participant in this research or any
questions about the research project or related course work I may contact _____________________'s
Faculty Sponsor, Professor Abram Johnson of the Sociology/Anthropology Dept. at RIT.

_____________________________________________________________________________
Signature Printed Name Date

_____________________________________________________________________________
Researcher's Signature Printed Name Date