The good news is I think I found another book that will be a much better choice for the book review. I'm very excited about that! I was thinking that reading books about Tonga, and especially reading books that are famous in Tonga, will not only give us a better understanding of the culture, but will also give us more to talk about with the natives. If we can go over there and say, "oh yeah, I read that book by that Tongan author!" it will show them that we are trying to learn more about their culture and immerse ourselves in their ways.
The bad news is, my ORCA Grant Application was denied, so I don't have that source of income I was hoping for. The other bad news is, because the grant was declined, the mentor I had been working with for the last few months is no longer going to work with me on the Field Study. So, I have to find a new mentor. This could also change my project proposal a little, as well. The reason that I had chosen to do the methods that I did was because my previous mentor had worked on a similar study and had hoped to get the at published, now my options are a little more free. Hopefully, some nice professor will decide to help me out with the Field Study!
Something that has been on my mind since I have been reading the articles about research and interviewing skills is how great this type of ethnographic research is. Most of the research that I read in my major and for my classes is experiments and studies that have been done to try and prove (or disprove) a specific hypothesis. With our Field Studies, so much of our research is interviewing and observing, that I think you really get the first hand experience of what the lives of the people are like. It seems to me like they aren't your research subjects, but rather they are people that you get to know and learn from (and about). The interviewing process is very important, but I think the most important thing in my mind (and probably something that will take real effort on my part) is that when you are interviewing other people, it's important to just listen, and let them talk. The more I think about Field Studies research, the more excited I get to go to Tonga. Going back all the way to the first article, it's not just about what you learn about yourself and the experience that you have while you are abroad, it's about what you learn from the people and their culture. I'm hoping my mind will be open and I will be able to learn a lot from "the Tongan way."
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Learning Journal 8: Dilemmas
The topic of aggression that I have been trying to study for the last couple of months is continuing to give me concerns. I still find the topic to be very interesting. I enjoy researching about aggression and reading articles that have previously been published on the topic, however, I am concerned that my topic might be a sensitive topic for the Tongan people. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to tell if this is true. I am confused as to how I am supposed to know how the people will react to my questions about their aggression norms without being around them. I am continuing to look up articles on aggression and on the Tongan people, but am having little luck finding articles that touch both of those topics. On the bright side, I have found an article that addresses how women in Tongan display their anger, and think that this will be very helpful to me.
In order to prepare myself for my Field Study, I have tried to put myself in culturally unfamiliar places. For example, I attended a baptist church by myself. It was very interesting to be in such a different church environment than the one I am used to. I went into the situation with a very open mind, which kept me from being judgmental, or thinking to myself "that's wrong" or "why aren't they wearing dresses?" I thought to myself that it would be very easy to think those kinds of things, but because I went into the church trying to learn what they do and not compare it to what I believe, I was able to gain a whole new perspective. There were several things about the church that I even thought "I wish we did that in my church." I think this helped reiterate to me the importance of going to Tonga with an open mind and just trying to learn about their lifestyles. When you go into something thinking I am going to learn and not judge, it makes it a lot easier to have a good experience.
The last dilemma that I have had this week came from my book search. As I previously mentioned, finding a book about Tonga has been very difficult for me. However, I found a book titled, " American Taboo," that I am considering using for my review. The book is not directly about Tonga, but rather about a murder of an American woman working in the Peace Corps, that took place in Tonga. As far as I can tell, the book addresses some of the cultural aspects about Tonga. However, it seems like it might be a little of a stretch to get it to relate to the Field Study. For this reason, I have also considered reading a book called, "Guns, Germs, and Steel." This one isn't about Tonga exactly either, but is more about societies on a whole and seems like it addresses culture more than my other choice. Another decision I need to make!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Learning Journal 7: Finding a Book
I have been looking for several books to read about the Tongan culture for my book review. I have noticed that there aren't nearly as many books about Tonga as there are about a lot of other cultures, which makes it difficult to find a good book to read for the review. However, I have been able to find a couple that talk about adolescents and social problems, which will hopefully be helpful and applicable to my project. As I continue to search for articles to use for my proposal I am noticing that there are a ton on adolescents and aggression, and children and social problems, but not many on children in Tongan, especially on aggression.
As I continue to think about my project, I am wondering if I might run into problems with the topic that I am studying now. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the topic might be sensitive among the Tongan people. I am concerned that people might not want to talk about their parenting styles, especially to someone like me, who is likely to perceive them as harsh. I need to look more into this and see if this is a possibility.
One last thought I have had is about my paradigm that I am looking through. We have been talking about this in class, and I think it's important to make sure that when I am in the field, I am trying not to view the culture through my American-LDS paradigm. It's important to look at the culture with open eyes, but that's easier said than done. I think that will be something that will take work throughout the whole time I'm there.
As I continue to think about my project, I am wondering if I might run into problems with the topic that I am studying now. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the topic might be sensitive among the Tongan people. I am concerned that people might not want to talk about their parenting styles, especially to someone like me, who is likely to perceive them as harsh. I need to look more into this and see if this is a possibility.
One last thought I have had is about my paradigm that I am looking through. We have been talking about this in class, and I think it's important to make sure that when I am in the field, I am trying not to view the culture through my American-LDS paradigm. It's important to look at the culture with open eyes, but that's easier said than done. I think that will be something that will take work throughout the whole time I'm there.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Learning Journal 5: Finding Articles
My goal for this weekend has been to find articles that would be useful for my project proposal. Not only am I looking for things about aggression in children, but I am also searching for articles that will pull culture into the context as well. I have had a little luck, but unfortunately have not been able to find anything on Tonga so far. My biggest question right now is whether there is just not much research done on aggression in Tonga, or if I am just not finding them. I have a few more sources to check out that could be helpful and hopefully I'll be able to find more about the Tongan culture in those.
As far as developing my project, I am still concerned about the logistics and about how the Tongan people will respond to being asked questions about there aggressive behaviors. My current idea is to give students in 6th grade, 9th grade, and 12th grade classes (approximately 200 in each grade) a questionnaire to complete concerning relational aggression. Part of the goal is to not only determine what Tongan children do when they are upset with their peers, but also to determine if they feel relationally aggressive acts are done to hurt, or demonstrate anger towards, other students. There will be four open ended questions given to determine the forms of aggression: 1.What do most boys do when they are mad at another boy? 2. What do most boys do when they are made at a girl? 3. What do most girls do when they are mad at another girl? 4. What do most girls do when they are mad at a boy? Children will write their responses on a questionnaire handed to them in the classroom setting. Forms will be sent home with the children to obtain parental consent before children participate in the study.
Ideally, I would also like to add in to that mix some interviews with parents or teachers to see how they perceive aggression amongst the children. It would be nice if I could interview children and parents as well to see what kinds of discipline children receive and see if there are any correlations between harsh punishments and higher levels of aggression. I still have a lot of work to do though.
As far as developing my project, I am still concerned about the logistics and about how the Tongan people will respond to being asked questions about there aggressive behaviors. My current idea is to give students in 6th grade, 9th grade, and 12th grade classes (approximately 200 in each grade) a questionnaire to complete concerning relational aggression. Part of the goal is to not only determine what Tongan children do when they are upset with their peers, but also to determine if they feel relationally aggressive acts are done to hurt, or demonstrate anger towards, other students. There will be four open ended questions given to determine the forms of aggression: 1.What do most boys do when they are mad at another boy? 2. What do most boys do when they are made at a girl? 3. What do most girls do when they are mad at another girl? 4. What do most girls do when they are mad at a boy? Children will write their responses on a questionnaire handed to them in the classroom setting. Forms will be sent home with the children to obtain parental consent before children participate in the study.
Ideally, I would also like to add in to that mix some interviews with parents or teachers to see how they perceive aggression amongst the children. It would be nice if I could interview children and parents as well to see what kinds of discipline children receive and see if there are any correlations between harsh punishments and higher levels of aggression. I still have a lot of work to do though.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Learning Journal 4: Aggression across cultures
Aggression has been researched for several decades now and is a topic that is constantly developing new results. Childhood aggression is a topic that is relevant today because of the importance that it plays in child personality development. Whether children are the aggressors or the ones being dominated, the influence of aggression on children can affect them for the rest of their lives. Research in the U.S. has shown that children of authoritarian parents, or parents that spank, yell, and frequently use the term "because I said so," tend to be more aggressive than children of authoritative parents. However, I can't help to wonder if this is the case for children of all cultures. Aggression norms also tend to manifest themselves differently between genders. Typically, girls show signs of more relational aggression while boys show signs of more physical aggression.
I have chosen to study aggression norms in Tongan children to see if they show similar norms as American children. I am feeling confident that I will be able to find results boys tend to display more physical aggression whereas girls display more relational aggression. The problem that I am running into now is figuring out if it is possible to study both gender norms as well as the kinds of parents that produce aggressive children, in the same study. At this point in my project, I am continuing to read anything I can find about aggression and aggression studies. I think familiarizing myself with these studies will make it easier for me to solidify my project idea and to narrow exactly what I want to study. So the research continues. . .
I have chosen to study aggression norms in Tongan children to see if they show similar norms as American children. I am feeling confident that I will be able to find results boys tend to display more physical aggression whereas girls display more relational aggression. The problem that I am running into now is figuring out if it is possible to study both gender norms as well as the kinds of parents that produce aggressive children, in the same study. At this point in my project, I am continuing to read anything I can find about aggression and aggression studies. I think familiarizing myself with these studies will make it easier for me to solidify my project idea and to narrow exactly what I want to study. So the research continues. . .
Monday, January 10, 2011
Learning Journal 2: Alien vs. Native
Today's reading really got me thinking about what kind of researcher I want to be when I get in the field. The author discussed the problems and benefits of being an extreme participant vs. and an extreme outsider. Obviously, my goal is to be completely immersed in the culture and to learn as much as possible about the Tongan culture, but I hadn't really thought of any problems that might occur for research if you completely adopt the beliefs of the natives. I guess the question that came to my mind was where do you draw the line from observing and participating? I definitely want to participate but I don't want that to influence the results of my research. I think finding a balance between those things will take some effort on my part.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Learning Journal 1: My First Blog
This is my first blog, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Creating a blog for my Prep-Course for the Tongan Field Study I will be doing over the summer, has proved to be a much more difficult task than I would have imagined. I am working on trying to add headings to the blog so that I can sort the blogs into categories. . . this could take a while.
We were assigned a very interested reading for tomorrow's class called "The Origin of the Tongan Tao'vala." I was actually surprised that the whole point of the article was only to describe the origin of the Tao'vala (given the title of the article, I guess I should not have been surprised at all). Given that this article was the first reading we were assigned about Tonga, I assumed it would be. . . well more about the Tongan culture, and not just an article of clothing. However, as I was reading I noticed myself thinking, "well, that's very strange." I started to think if maybe that was the point of us reading this article to begin with (I'm completely guessing on that). Maybe, we were supposed to notice how we perceive other cultures as being "strange" because they are not like our American culture. I can't help to think that, as Americans, we our quite egocentric in the way we view other cultures. My thinking that it was strange for the Tongan people wear tao'vala to weddings, funerals, and in the presence of the king, is a perfect example of that. Of course, in my country it would be very odd (and possibly even rude) if someone were to wear a mat, or a baked canoe sail, to a wedding or funeral, but in the Tongan culture it's completely appropriate. This opened my eyes and made me realize that as I travel to Tonga, I will need to be very sure that I do not view the culture and their traditions compare to what we do in America. I feel very confident that I will have a much better experience if I just observe what they do and allow myself to be immersed in that, rather than just thinking that it's different from what I do and therefore, wrong or weird.
We were assigned a very interested reading for tomorrow's class called "The Origin of the Tongan Tao'vala." I was actually surprised that the whole point of the article was only to describe the origin of the Tao'vala (given the title of the article, I guess I should not have been surprised at all). Given that this article was the first reading we were assigned about Tonga, I assumed it would be. . . well more about the Tongan culture, and not just an article of clothing. However, as I was reading I noticed myself thinking, "well, that's very strange." I started to think if maybe that was the point of us reading this article to begin with (I'm completely guessing on that). Maybe, we were supposed to notice how we perceive other cultures as being "strange" because they are not like our American culture. I can't help to think that, as Americans, we our quite egocentric in the way we view other cultures. My thinking that it was strange for the Tongan people wear tao'vala to weddings, funerals, and in the presence of the king, is a perfect example of that. Of course, in my country it would be very odd (and possibly even rude) if someone were to wear a mat, or a baked canoe sail, to a wedding or funeral, but in the Tongan culture it's completely appropriate. This opened my eyes and made me realize that as I travel to Tonga, I will need to be very sure that I do not view the culture and their traditions compare to what we do in America. I feel very confident that I will have a much better experience if I just observe what they do and allow myself to be immersed in that, rather than just thinking that it's different from what I do and therefore, wrong or weird.
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