Humanitarian Relief

One of the inquiry conference presentations was by a Humanities major who studied a tourist site in Italy. Her presentation was titled something along the lines of “Inconclusive Study: Confessions of a Humanities Field Study Student” (I can’t remember the actually title). The presenter shared her learning experiences in Italy, but concluded by sharing the insights she had gained about a three-month undergraduate study. Basically, three months is a very short amount of time, and although she can make educated guesses and theoretical postulates, she knows she can not state definitive conclusions because they would be stereotypical and likely inaccurate. She related that the field study experience is wonderful and teaches students a lot, but that participants do not need to think they should return to the States with great revelations and conclusive breakthroughs. Even seasoned researchers who spend years doing ethnographic studies in one particular area cannot ever be completely sure about the conclusions and theories they acquire.

This presentation really helped me to feel relieved. As I work to gather sources for my project question and attempt to more fully comprehend its implications, I continue to feel overwhelmed, inadequate, and under qualified. I keep wondering to myself if there is any way my research could actually be valuable to academia, since it will be done in such a short amount of time, and by me, of so little experience. This girl’s presentation let me know that there are other field study students who feel the same way as me, and that this is okay. My undergraduate field study is a time to learn methods, procedures, and experience what it is like to develop a research question and carry out a study. It is okay that I cannot possibly come to complex and thorough conclusions that may not have any impact of influence on Ghanaians or anthropological academia. I am expanding my knowledge and experience, preparing for graduate school studies, and becoming more familiar with cross-cultural relations. I can do my best to contribute educated guesses about my project’s particular study aspects and be comfortable with the fact that I may or may not be right, and that I more than likely will come to indefinite conclusions.