Methodological Possibilities

In both my field study prep class and my ethnographic methods class for anthropology, I have recently been really noticing the value behind different methodologies. When I first began to hear about methods in anthropology, I often felt skeptical about the practicality or usefulness. In the "hard" sciences methodologies such as experimentation or the use of numerical formulas are concrete, and it is fairly easy to see how these could be put to use to further a hypothesis. However, when one is doing research qualitatively, things are expected to have error, and to include guesswork. At first, I considered whether this could indicate inaccuracy or worthlessness. However, as my understanding of anthropology deepened, I realized qualitative work is, in fact, very valuable, and with the methods practices I have been doing this semester I have become even more solidified in this opinion. Questions or exercises patterned specifically to know better the human mind and human emotions are just as significant as the scientific experiments that can test biological samples.

For example, I have noticed that my methods practices have especially helped me to see how I can use informants to define specific aspects of their culture, and to map out where people place value. Since I will be unfamiliar with the culture I am studying, this is vital. When I practiced free-listing, pile sorting, and ranking methodologies, I asked a friend to list every type of education should could think of. This led to follow up questions about how she defined education, which was further specified when she sorted her list into categorical piles. Furthermore, when she ranked her list from most important to least, I was able to see where she placed value in a specific part of her society. Similarly, when I used scale inquiry on BYU campus to ask about gender roles and education, specifically through the scale question "It is more important for males to graduate from college than for females - strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree," I was able to infer social value through the answers my subjects gave.

I am beginning to see the possibilities a variety of methodologies hold for information gathering within the field. As Professor Hawkins has been emphasizing, sometimes even one observation, or a particular pattern from one question, or a specific reaction can already garner enough analysis-worthy subject matter for a large part of a senior thesis.

Moyga, Ntoro, and Family Values

This week I have been really impacted by what I have been taught about family values and dynamics in Ghana. In our Twi class we took a break from grammar (thank the heavens above) and had a culture lesson. As a sociocultural anthropologist this has been my absolute favorite class so far. Milly taught us about the family structure in Ghana and it was extremely interesting. First, we learned that families are structured on matrilineal lines. Mothers give their children moyga (blood) and fathers provide them with ntoro (soul). Since their blood line is through their mother, their most significant family relations traditionally come through their mother's line. Surprisingly, instead of children depending on their fathers for money and stability, they will often be taken care of and provided for financially by their mother's brother - their wɔfa. Family ties are extremely important, and it is a known responsibility for family members to aid one another. Milly said that usually if one family member makes it financially, that means the rest of the family will also make it, because the wealth will be shared. She even related that although she has been in the States for a long time, she still recognizes her duties to continually give back to her family. One of the Ashanti proverbs she shared stated that "family is an army." If family members stick together, their strength will overcome obstacles. Milly also reinforced what I learned in an interview with my Ghanaian friend Daniella a couple weeks ago - neighbors will act as your family when you are in need. If you are in trouble or in great need, you can always turn to someone, even if they are not your blood relative, and they will try to help you out. Milly said that the term "it takes a village to raise a child" is basically taken literally in Ghana.

While listening to one of the inquiry conference presenters, Corrin, I saw traces of this mentality as well. She went to Ghana for her field study, and studied cultural ethnocentricity among tribal groups there. Although she seemed to argue for pushing a more unified front and mixing of tribes to lessen group pride, it was still cool to hear about how fiercely proud and loyal Ghanaian's will be about their family lines and tribal identity.

I could see some major cultural differences between America and Ghana just from learning about their ideas of what constitutes family and appropriate ways to be loyal to fellow Ghanaians. Again, I realized that Ghanaian's seem to take a more socialist approach to community - they will financially help out friends and relatives as a part of their moral duty. Additionally, they expect their community to help raise children, whether they be relatives, friends, or neighbors. In America, we are generally more motivated to help only ourselves and who we consider our close kin - also, there is a pervading mentality that one works for their own success, and that a lack of success may represent someone too lazy or meritless to deserve external help.

I enjoyed hearing Milly's take on these differences. She related that because of her native Ghanaian values and culture, she will continue to honor her obligations to her family back in Ghana. She also does not accept some norms in American culture, such as allowing children to be very informal with their parents or express an attitude towards them often without repercussion. She views this as highly inappropriate, and is working to instill in her own children a stronger respect for their elders more in line with Ghanaian culture. However, she also appreciates here in America that she has a closer relationship with her children due to her isolation in raising them, whereas in Ghana the entire community would be more involved with their upbringing, and leave her less time to watch over them personally.

Overall, it was interesting to learn about Ghanaian family values from a mixture of Milly's native experiences and Corrin's field study experience. Although they differ greatly from American values, I feel more endeared towards the Ghanaian people, and cannot wait for firsthand observation of how people interact, especially along family oriented lines.

The Fences of the Western Mindset

While searching for literary sources for my research project, I started to notice some interesting things that correlated with the lesson we learned in the last combined class through the story of Rosemary and Hernandez. For one, I looked over the abstract for a book by Gwendolyn Mikell (an author who has been popping up frequently with feminist African studies articles in a variety of journals) that was about feminism in Africa. The abstract acknowledged that American feminist studies are often concerned with a woman’s sexual freedom and child-bearing choices. However, Gwendolyn focuses on African feminism movement, which is often more concerned with land ownership and economic control. This surprised me initially, as I would have never thought of this on my own, because my experience with feminism has been purely based on American ideologies and value systems.
When I went to my section class, and learned more about Ghanaian history, I realized how becoming more historically and politically savvy about the area would aid my perception of social issues within the culture. For example, the differences in feminism obviously stem more from cultural variations in concepts of gender differentiation, and possibly historical events that shaped economy (such as the European colonialism that brought the concept of “property” and land ownership to many areas in Africa). This is especially relevant to me, having been brought up in a very capitalistic nation with overarching ideas of meritocracy and fundamentally conservative values compared to many areas of the world. My facilitator, Jackie mentioned how Ghanaian culture often revolved around a community mentality, such as with the rituals of reciprocity, and already I could see how this could differ greatly from the capitalistic context I have grown up in.
These lessons are applicable to my project because they will help me be more prepared to approach involved issues with the expectation of them being conceptualized or approached differently than they might have been in America. For example, I may find that although I am concerned with rural children receiving adequate schooling, this might mean a Westernized standard schooling system in my mind, and could mean something completely different for Ghanaians. Maybe their perceptions of learning include agricultural education as equally significant compared to academics, therefore cocoa farming may seen as more of a help than a hindrance to children. I cannot be sure yet, but by studying Ghanaian history to better understand cultural implications, and readying myself for completely different schools of thought and value systems I will be able to make more research progress faster while in the field.