That charming and intelligent Austrian-American anthropologist Paul Radin has said that no one quite knows how one goes about fieldwork. Perhaps we should leave the question with that sort of answer. But when I was a serious young student in London I thought I would try to get a few tips from experienced fieldworkers before setting out for Central Africa. I first sought advice from Westermarck. All I got from him was 'don't converse with an informant for more than twenty minutes because if you aren't bored by that time he will' be'. Very good advice, even if somewhat inadequate. I sought instruction from Haddon, a man foremost in field-research. He told me that it was really all quite simple; one should always behave as a gentleman. Also very good advice. My teacher, Seligman, told me to take ten grains of quinine every night and to keep off women. The famous Egyptologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, just told me not to bother about drinking dirty water as one soon became immune to it. Finally, I asked Malinowski and was told not to be a bloody fool. So there is no clear answer, much will depend on the man, on the society he is to study, and the conditions in which he is to make it.

Original source: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford** IV(1):1-12, 1973

*This title is not the original by same author. Given by Mitzubishi, who cited it.

文化表象学の若い学生による翻訳です

・若いフィールドワーカーに贈る言葉 　　

フィールドワークのやり方について、こうすべき、だとはっきり述べることは出来ない。私が若い学生だったころに経験をつんだフィールドワーカー達から得た助言をいくつかあげるとすると、 “ひとりの情報提供者と二十分以上話さないこと、自分はその時間に退屈していなくても、彼は退屈しているのだから”（ウェスターマーク）、“単純なことではあるが、常に紳士的にふるまうこと”（ハッドン）、“毎晩十粒のキニーネ剤を飲むこと、そして女性には近づかないこと（セリグマン）、“汚水を飲むことを嫌がるな、すぐに免疫がつくのだから”（フリンダーズ・パトリー卿）、“大ばか者になるな”（マリノフスキー），などというものだった。つまり、明確な答えはなく、フィールドワークはそれを行う人自身や、その人が学ぶ社会、行う場所の状況に大いに左右されるものなのである。

Copyright Nanashi Gakusei, 2003