Abstract
This chapter is a reflection on the difficulties of conducting criminological research in rural India. It tells the story of two periods of ethnographic fieldwork (1999 and 2002) conducted in one North Indian village (pseudonym: Nagaria). This chapter is written in the ‘tales from the field’ narrative tradition, relying primarily on my own fieldwork experience and later reflections, and intentionally making little reference to the methodological literature. Much of the chapter – particularly the fieldwork extracts – is written in the ‘ethnographic present’. A dramaturgical approach is adopted (Goffman (1959) The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth: Penguin), with a focus on the ways in which social interaction may be understood as performance. Theatrical terminology is used to underscore the ways in which field relationships may be stage managed. Contrary to conventional notions of the power of the researcher, in this tale from the field, it becomes clear that the superior acting skills of gatekeepers and key informants led to the upstaging of this ethnographer.
This is a reprint of a paper published in the Asian Journal of Criminology 2007, 2, 57–69.
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Notes
- 1.
All names given are pseudonyms, apart from those of the author and of Babuji, which is an honorific title for a respected elder.
- 2.
A Western woman by birth and upbringing, Jaya was generally referred to by her Hindu name, or by the honorific Mamaji.
- 3.
This conversation took place in English, partly because this informant had fluent command of both languages, and partly because speaking in English confirmed to others in the village his superior status. All other fieldwork conversations took place in Hindi, although in some cases I used both Hindi and English when speaking with research associates.
- 4.
There was no possibility of my conducting research in the village alone. While some latitude may be given to the pardeshi woman in terms of norms of social behaviour, it would still be unthinkable for any woman to go about the village unaccompanied. This had a number of personal (as well as methodological) implications, for example, the emotional response I felt as a feminist researcher within a context of limited female freedoms .
- 5.
Padmini was later, in private, scathing about his assumption of this role of gatekeeper, believing it to be presumptuous on his part.
- 6.
All Hindi terms are explained in the Hindi glossary.
- 7.
The questions translate as: ‘What is the best thing about this village? Are there any troubles in the village? If any crime does take place, what would you do about it?’
- 8.
No names were asked for or given during this encounter.
- 9.
By ‘caste’ I believe she meant the practice of Untouchability, outlawed in India since 1949, yet persisting as a social practice in many places; other caste groups are clearly acknowledged as existing at both local and state levels.
- 10.
Ludicrous may be defined as absurd or ridiculous, and (interestingly) probably derives from the Latin ludicrum, a stage play.
- 11.
I am indebted to Dr Catrin Smith of University College Chester (UK) for bringing the concept of the cultural intermediary to my attention.
- 12.
While I agree with many commentators that the relationship between researcher and key informant is one of ‘mutual exploitation ’, nevertheless a balance must be maintained and each researcher must decide when the risk of exploiting or harming others is too great (see, e.g., Crick (1992)).
- 13.
All definitions of terms are derived from the Chambers Dictionary.
References
Bailey, C. (1983). The sociology of production in rural Malay society. Kuala Lumpur/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crick, M. (1992). Ali and me: An essay in street-corner ethnography. In J. Okely & H. Callaway (Eds.), Anthropology and autobiography. London: Routledge.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Wardhaugh, J. (2002). Community, consensus and conflict in rural India. International Journal of Rural Studies, 9(1), 7–10.
Wardhaugh, J. (2005). The jungle and the village: Discourses on crime and deviance in rural North India. South Asia Research, 25(2), 129–140.
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Glossary
- Aside
-
Words spoken in a play for the audience to hear, but supposed not to be heard by the other characters
- Bit part actor
-
One who takes a minor part in a play or film
- Burlesque
-
A comic imitation, esp. in parody of a dramatic or literary work
- Coda
-
A passage forming the completion of a piece (music, story, dance), rounding it off to a satisfactory conclusion
- Contradict
-
Deny or express the opposite of a statement made by (a person)
- Cue
-
The last words of an actor’s speech serving as a signal to another actor to enter or speak; a hint on how to behave in particular circumstances
- Dramaturge
-
A specialist in theatrical production; a dramatist
- Interlude
-
A pause between the acts of a play; a temporary amusement or entertaining episode
- Interpretation
-
An explanation of the meaning of (foreign or abstruse words)
- Misinterpretation
-
A wrong interpretation; to draw a wrong inference from
- Noises off
-
Sounds made off stage to be heard by the audience of a play
- Prompting
-
Supplying a forgotten word, sentence etc. to an actor
- Proxemics
-
The study of socially conditioned spatial factors in ordinary human relations
- Set piece
-
A formal or elaborate arrangement, esp. in art or literature
- Setting
-
The place and time, scenery etc. of a story or drama
- Sotto voce
-
In an undertone or aside
- Stage verb transitive (v.tr.)
-
Arrange the occurrence of
- Stagecraft
-
Skill or experience in writing or staging plays
- Stage direction
-
An instruction in the text of a play as to the position, tone, etc., of an actor, or sound effects, etc.
- Stage-manage
-
Arrange and control for effect
- Translation
-
A written or spoken expression of the meaning of a word, speech, book, etc. in another language.
- Upstage
-
(Of an actor) move upstage to make (another actor) face away from the audience; divert attention from (a person) to oneself; outshine
- Baharwallah
-
Outsider; in this context used to mean one who lives outside the village
- Charpoy
-
Traditional wood-and-string bed, used during the day for seating family and guests
- Chowkidar
-
Gatekeeper or watchperson
- Dhobi
-
Washer caste
- Goonda
-
Ruffian, villain or troublemaker
- Harijan
-
(Literally: a person dedicated to god) a term for ‘Untouchables’, popularised by Gandhi in order to offset their low social status; other more politicised terms include Dalit (literally: oppressed)
- Kachha
-
(Literally: raw, uncooked) rough, unsophisticated, unreliable
- Paise
-
Money; in the case cited in the text: a bribe
- Pakka (pukka)
-
(Literally: ripe, cooked) genuine, reliable
- Panchayat
-
Village council
- Pardeshi
-
Foreigner
- Pareshani
-
Worry or concern
- Pradhan
-
Elected head of panchayat
- Shauq
-
Interest or hobby
- Tamasha
-
Play, spectacle or festive celebration; in this context horseplay
- Untouchable
-
Member of an outcaste Hindu group, one who is supposed to defile the purity of caste Hindus
- UP
-
Uttar Pradesh, a state in North India
- Zamin
-
Land
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Wardhaugh, J. (2017). Lost in Translation: Doing (and Not Doing) Ethnographic Research in Village India. In: Liu, J., Travers, M., Chang, L. (eds) Comparative Criminology in Asia. Springer Series on Asian Criminology and Criminal Justice Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54942-2_8
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