RJ11

Moss’s essay gives very good advice to fieldworkers working in their native communities.  This advice includes numerous references to the themes of objectivity and subject compliance.  Some major ideas I noticed were: keep your subjects comfortable, associate yourself with the society (without becoming too much of an impact), continually analyze your research throughout the research process, and be flexible with your research goals and consider the data as you collect it to determine how to tweak them.  The example presented in Mamma Day, considering it to be an example of a failed research process, is solid proof of the ideas presented by Moss as necessities for the ethnographic fieldworker.  “Reema’s boy” did not reassociate himself with the society, adhere to the needs and wills of the members of this society, check up on his research to discover his errors, or allow any possibility of alteration to his research goal.  Because he neglected these principles, he not only failed to obtain the knowledge of the society he sought, but he was also oblivious to the fact that he had failed and went on to publish material that falsely represented the culture he studied.  As researchers, we must be flexible and open and have the ability to be involved just the right amount.  We also cannot forget to analyze ourselves simultaneously to ensure we stay on track with our research goal, even if that means changing what the right track is.  These are the keys to becoming successful researchers.

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