In USA, the earliest anthropological research on city life was after World War II, and a great interest and development in anthropology begin in the 1960s and 1970s. Earliest American research mostly dealt with American Indian tribes. Franz Boas help standardizing this new approach of data collecting (field work). Most anthropologists believe in “fieldwork as a primary data-gathering strategy” (6). They also believed in short term fieldtrip. British anthropologist named Malinowski believed in long-term field work and American anthropologists soon adopted his method.
In the 1950s, there was a boom in the anthropological department. As a result, most anthropologists have more resources and money to expand and facilitate their researches. Tool that has been improve by technology over the years but still essential and primary are pencil and notebook (to keep / take notes), tape recorder and camera. After the big boom, anthropologists have move from pleasant and rural area to study urban dwellers. Different method was used to study the urbanity in a holistic context. The heterogeneous population was dived into different category to understand and great a more vivid insight. Many anthropologists lived with the subjects to for their fieldwork, however, most found a resourceful informant. Many have learned the native language or rely on a translator.
Ted Bestor shows us how difficult it is to do a field work in real life. He takes all the theories and methods and tries to implement it in his study. He talks about his journey as an anthropologist’s doing research in Tokyo, Japan. The hardship he had faced and how he and his wife managed to prevail through it. Who and where he found his help, like the lady in the supermarket. He shows us how the method comes to life.
