Learning Journal #20

I first want to start off with a plug to GO SEE ASHLEY!! Seriously fellow "prep course" students, she was EXTREMELY helpful! (and plus, she's a delight to talk to)

Anyways, it is because of Ashley that I was able to think more clearly of what I imagine my days to be like, and what I will be looking for on a day-to-day basis. In order for your metholodigies to work, you must know WHAT you are looking for. And I think I finally figured out what I'm looking for:

I want to know how dance provides an environment for promoting nationalism. In other words, what about a dance party makes people identify more with being a Ghanaian? What about the atomsphere in which dances are learned disconnects students from their ethnic identity? It is these questions that I should be asking, and those connections that I should be looking for.

This train of thought led me to think about my interviews... what questions I want to be asking, who I will be interviewing, and where they will take place. I decided that FOCUS GROUPS would be really beneficial for gathering data about the environment that dance creates. Thanks to Kim (who went to Ghana three Falls ago), I now know I can/should go to the high schools to find my focus groups. It is in these focus groups that I'll be able to do my free listings as well!

For my general interviews, I realized that I need to be thinking more about what data I want and then forming my questions around that, as opposed to the other way around.


Needless to say, my metholodigies continue to take shape the more concrete my theories become.

Learning Journal #15

FIRST OFF: I promise I did this on time, for some reason I'm having a hard time posting it. Some funky computer-languaged notice pops up everytime I hit "publish post".... Wish me luck this time about. Here it goes:

"I've spend every day reconfiguring my senses"..... This is a line from a musical The Last 5 Years and though it has nothing to do with Ghana or dance, or even anthropology.... it has been running through my mind whenever I think of my project. POR QUE??? Well, "porque" I think I finally have it figured out. If you have read my field development notes, the last entry would probably give you a little cause for worry because I was freaking out about my topic.

It's been the same cycle: I pick a topic; start doing research only to discover my topic has been fairly well covered (or it becomes quite obvious in the point I'm trying to make); I then decided to change the angle of my project and the cycle starts over again. I thought I had broken the cycle with this idea of national leaders using dance as a means of promoting nationalism. However, that is obvious, and rather easy to study (because it's more of a fact than a theory).

The theory comes into play when I look at how this idea is changing the culture and society of Ghana. THAT is what I need to be studying.... not the fact that dance was used but rather what this is doing to the very culture of Ghana. It seems to me that what made Ghana so beautiful (or any African country for that matter) was the diversity that existed; but with this new mentality, that diversity is fading among youngsters.... and they are blending more and more into a national, united culture.

The title of my project really should be something along the lines of:

"Consequences on Local Ethnicity of Using Dance as Nationalist Propaganda: A Study in Asante Region, Ghana"

Or perhaps,

"Effects of Using Dance as Nationalism Tool on Rural Ghana"

Now that I have that figured out, it changes my methods only a little bit, I still plan on conducting a survey, and using participant observation... but its figuring out what questions to ask. So what is next on the agenda? A trip to go see Jacob Hickman (my 442 professor) because he'll be able to give me some great ideas.

ps. I finally have some ideas about a faculty mentor. Wish me luck! (I won't tell you who until I know if she says yes or not)

pps. My theories on nationalism are slowly taking shape so look for them in the next post!

Learning Journal #11

There are two major things I want to talk about in this blog: my topic and my methods. I'll do the latter first.

Recently in my Anthro 442 class we've been talking about sampling. We've discussed things such as 'what is the appropriate sampling size', 'how to achieve a purely random sample'; we've even delved into standard deviation and probability. This has been such a wonderful thing to talk about. It's gotten me seriously considering a questionnaire of sort for other communities around Wiamose. After all, I can only generalize my data to pertain to all of rural Ghana if I have reason to believe that it does indeed pertain to all of rural Ghana. The only way I'll be able to know is to test my ideas on other communities.

Along those same lines, I was able to talk with my professor, Jacob Hickman, to figure out the best sampling size, etc for my project. We looked on GoogleEarth and decided that because of the satellite imagery, I might be able to pre-select houses to go to-- get a good random sampling of houses as well as villages. This has been a new addition to my project that makes me VERY EXCITED!!!!! I feel like my methods are starting to take shape, and that my project is becoming real.

Now for the first thing I wanted to talk about: my topic. I've had this secret panic growing inside of me that my project was too general; but then I couldn't narrow it down because what if I missed the mark and my project is way too specific. So, as mentioned earlier, I went to speak with Jacob about this very thing. After speaking with him, my fears were calmed. He thought my topic was great: (just in case I haven't updated it yet... my new topic is.....) How does the political push toward a national identity affect dance in rural Ghana? He said it was general enough to allow some leeway for shifting from either more political ideology to dance ideology. He also seemed pleased with the political implications it would bring for other disciplines besides dance. In other words, this project will not only answer the question to the changes in dance since Independence, but it will also address the political changes as well.

So there you have it.... new updates on my project, and on my methods. Its now 12:42am..... and if I keep writing about Ghana (and my project), I think I'll get too excited and it will take me forever to calm down! So goodbye for now..... I'm pretty positive I'll be writing again soon.

:)

Learning Journal #10

As I walk to school every morning, I pull out a set of white flashcards and begin...
"Akwaaba.... oh oh I know this one!..... 'hello'..... yes!"

I've been trying to study Twi so that I can really learn it, not just learn the words but know them well enough that I can form sentences and communicate with the people of Wiamose. Even before Cultural Inquiry last night, I knew the importance of truly seeking to learn about another culture-- I'm going to Ghana to do that very thing: to study something about their culture that is VERY important to them. As I was walking yesterday, I realized I should be learning all the Twi words that have to do with dance- whether it's actual names of dances, or words such as funeral, celebration, dance, change, independence, movement, music, etc... Don't worry, I'll be asking Millie about them today!

As far as project development goes, I've been thinking of more questions that I'll be adding to the "field notes" page. I do want to discuss one aspect of dance that I've been thinking about lately. It comes in the form of a quote, from the article :

“in Africa, musical values and social values are interconnected, and in a sense, music and dance provide a microcosm of the world view” (page 54)

I mean, I had considered the possibility that social changes will affect dance; it may even change it all together.... but those new dances now represent a community's new world view. WHOA! So that affects my project how? I will be able to find clues not only through interviewing people, but through watching them too.

(I'll be honest: observation was one of my methods but I really had no idea how to incorporate i, nor did I know what valuable insights it could give me)

But now, I can watch the way they dance, and in it, there will be clues. For instance, perhaps men and women will interact more, thus indicating the shift in social values towards the acceptability of such acts. Previously, men and women didn't dance together because it was socially unacceptable AND they had such different roles in the society itself. Now, with the blurring of gender roles, perhaps those blurs will transfer over to dance as well.

Does this make sense? I hope it does for you, because it does for me. This also means one important thing:: I'm going to need to read more about the anthropology of dance; examples of how to interpret it, the best ways to observe, etc.

So I'm still staying in the direction of national unity versus ethnic diversity, but now I have another method to use! YAY!

oh ps. I'll be meeting with my Anthro 442 professor on Thursday to discuss details about a survey that I could use for the surrounding towns! Wish me luck!

Learning Journal 1

Part of this first journal entry will be from my previous thinking, and the second half will be from the assigned reading for Section tomorrow.

I decided to do my research on dance. Now, dance is a HUGE part of Ghanaian culture, heck, it's a huge part of every culture. I think that's why I want to study it-- it's something we already have in common. Back to the intellectual thinking...... I've been thinking lately about what methods I want to use to gather my research and I've come up with some really good ideas, or so I think.

1. Interviewing. This is a given because if I want to find out what Ghanaians think of dance, I should simply ask them. Thinking of questions is the hard part... good thing we'll have to work on that in a week or two.
2. Observations. Everyone that I've talked to said that there is always dancing going on-- whether its for a celebration or a funeral. By watching them, perhaps I can see the similarities between the older and younger generations. Which dance moves are the same, what is different, etc.
3. Music Testing. I had the idea recently, (Wednesday I think it was) that if I want to discover why the dancing between 50 year olds and 20 year olds is different, perhaps I should start by looking at their music. I then had the thought that perhaps I could get a group of volunteers and play different kinds of music, have them dance to it, and see if anything changes. Then I would definitely know if music has an influence!

Anyhoo, those are just some of the ideas I've been working on methodology wise. Now I need to find some material to read from the HBLL. I tried to contact Connie Lamb (the anthropology librarian) but sadly she was sick today :( hopefully she'll be back soon! HEY! I could go to the dance section and see if the dance librarian could help me too... genius idea!

Now for the reading.... lets see if anything popped out to me.

One thing I realized while reading this article "Cocoa, Marriage, Labour and Land in Ghana: Some Matrilineal and Patrilineal Perspectives" is that I need to have a somewhat solid understanding of basic social patterns in the community I'll be staying in. Before I can analyze the data, I'm going to need the background. Understanding where these people are coming from.
Also, I hadn't thought about the differences between men and women. Perhaps I should pay mind to look at the different views on dance from both men and women, see if they differ at all as well. Perhaps young men don't care as much about dance as young women...and who knows why. Nice! Another viewpoint to take in my research!