Development Studies: Socio-economic Development from an Interdisciplinary Perspective Saleha Erdmann |
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
Methodology Participatory observation was a very important aspect of my methodology. I lived inside the parroquia for three weeks where I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner with the father, and two nuns every day. I taught cello to the first level students and the orchestral students every day and observed rehearsals and daily activities of the Institute and its musicians. I would have played with the musicians but there weren’t enough cellos. Sometimes I played duets with my students, but I couldn’t participate in the orchestra rehearsals. Outside of the parroquia I spent time with my students, other young people from town, their families, Victor (my friend who lived in the parroquia) and the music teachers. Sometimes we went to the river, sometimes we went to mass, sometimes to the store, sometimes to a party. By participating in the daily lives of these people I could observe the structures of the town and the Institute, the general atmosphere, form friendships, adjust to the style of living there and demonstrate my respect for the people by participating in their lives and work. However, it is certain that my role as a teacher, a gringa, and a researcher created unequal power relationships. It was obvious that I am different and I have resources, opportunities and social power that they do not have. I hope that this did not make people feel obligated to talk with me about my project, but it is possible. I did fourteen formal interviews with nineteen people about classical music, the institute, the old music, Guarayo identity, and their lives in general. I did some interviews with two or three people at a time (for example, I interviewed two sisters and their father at the same time). I tried to interview musicians, students, parents of students, teachers, people outside the Instituto, women, men, young people, old people, etc. This is the breakdown of my formal interviews: *7 have studied or are still studying in the Instituto *2 are teachers in the Instituto and former students *2 are directors within SICOR *6 adults from town (4 of them have children in the Institute) I also did informal interviews every day while talking with my students or with the people from town, and I observed conversations during breakfast. If I use the names of the sources of this information in these informal situations it is because they have given me permission to do so. It was difficult to formally interview minors (people less than 18 years old) because first I needed the authorization of their parents. It was not easy to find time to go to their houses to speak with their parents; the students are in classes at the Institute or high school all day and their parents work. And sometimes the students seemed hesitant to bring me to their houses. That is why I only formally interviewed two minors. I was going to use a written consent form from the parents but after arriving in Urubichá I decided that oral consent was better. This is because many of the adults in Urubichá do not have much formal education and some don’t understand Spanish well—Guarayo is their first language. It seemed to me that to present them with a written paper to sign would have reinforced my social power (as someone who has had a lot of formal education and speaks Spanish) in a situation where I wanted to recognize the power of the parents and their children to decide to share information with me or not. It is best to have a consent protocol that can be adapted to local culture. Thus when I talked to the parents I always went with my friend Victor, (so that the parents would be able to ask him questions if they didn’t feel comfortable talking to me) and I didn’t use a written form to sign. My secondary sources on the Guarayos are lacking a little bit because up until a few days before departing for Urubichá I thought that it was a Chiquitaneo ex-Jesuit mission town. So I have researched literature about the Jesuits and Chiquitaneos instead of the Guarayos and Franciscans. I didn’t have many opportunities to read about the Guarayos while in Urubichá and I didn’t have much time to do more research before handing in my project. next: My Own Experience and Bias back to senior project page Salinas Mulder, Rance, Senate Suarez & Castro Condori, 2000: 104.
|
|||||||