NGOによるフィールドスタディの現場から : 大衆化するフィールドワーク(<特集>人類学的フィールドワークとは何か)

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The term "field study" is not used as much as the term fieldwork, about which many manuals and books have been published in recent years in Japan. In this paper, I define field study as one characteristic of educational programs such as the study tours implemented by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as part of their international aid. Field study may have many characteristics, some of which are the same as those of fieldwork, while others are different. Since the NGO tours are commercialized, they may be described as popularized fieldwork. In this paper, I analyze five study tours organized in Mongolia by a Japanese NGO called "Ecology School, " spanning from 2002 to 2005. I have access to the materials described by these tours' participants, because the official reports of the tours are available on the Web, and because I belong to the team that started up the NGO. From the reports and records of the study tours, I identify several of their characteristics. First, the participants paid much attention to the physical aspects of the local people under study. Second, they also paid much attention to the material culture, trying to get information by asking all the questions they could think of. Third, they found it much easier to communicate with children than with adults, so they paid much attention to the former, and/or loved to write about them. Fourth, since the local people also wrote their own reports and records, the participants tried to get to know the feelings of the people observed. Fifth, some people participated in the study tours repeatedly so as to better understand social change. Generally speaking, while participants in the field study are able to carry out some kind of observation, they tend to make nonparticipant observations as they cannot communicate adequately, owing to the language barrier. Also, the participants occasionally observe things that a professional fieldworker may overlook. They easily feel a sense of emotional success, impressed as they are by the landscape, kind people and intimate children. That is anticipated by the "pre-established harmony" set out in the educational program of the field study. Indeed, the participants are aware that the emotional success is pre-established, so they hope to study more to seek real success. In the near future, the educational programs of study tours may become more popularized and commercialized. While some of our professional fieldworkers will help to improve such programs, others will criticize or ignore them. Whatever attitude one takes, professional fieldworkers will have something new and practical to learn from the field study performed in study tours.
2007-12-31

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小長谷有紀
国立民族学博物館

NGOによるフィールドスタディの現場から : 大衆化するフィールドワーク(<特集>人類学的フィールドワークとは何か)

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