Hello all! My name is Sander Morrison. Welcome to my blog! I hope you can glean my first blog post for information that will be beneficial to you. My purpose is to be a storyteller for all of you this quarter. This story is not one that any of you have heard or are familiar with. I’m not going to be reciting vivid tales of the extraordinary; quite the opposite actually. I am going to be relating the story of someone who is politically different from me, and maybe some of you. Although that may sound quite a bit less exciting and dramatic than a fairy tale, it is these types of stories that are essential because they ultimately deepen our understanding of others, and even more importantly ourselves.
Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of the book Strangers In Their Own Land and American sociologist, ventured into the beating heart of the Tea Party and a home to millions of people who have a firm stance on the far right of the political spectrum: Louisiana. She was a woman on a mission. She was determined to understand all of these Louisianians whose views completely opposed her own. Understandably, we don’t get a whole account of Hochschild’s findings in the first chapter of her book, but she identifies some important aspects of her fieldwork in Louisiana. This is important for me because I am attempting to do the same thing as her. This first blog post is going to cover some explanations, examples, and purposes of Hochschild’s fieldwork.
One of the first principles of fieldwork that Hochschild introduces is “empathy walls.” “An empathy wall is an obstacle to deep understanding of another person, one that can make us feel indifferent or even hostile to those who hold different beliefs or whose childhood is rooted in different circumstances” (Hochschild, 5). Getting over these obstacles that prevent us from understanding a person in a different culture is the most important thing an anthropologist can do during fieldwork, but this achievement also must extend into everyone’s lives if we hope to live in a world where we understand and accept one another. Hochschild provides a wonderful example of this in her book. Sally Cappel was one of her contacts in Louisiana; she was an artist who lived in Lake Charles, and she was a progressive Democrat. Sally’s best friend, a woman from the same town named Shirley Slack, was on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Despite their differences in political views, these women had an admirable friendship. Said Hochschild about these two women: “I believe that their friendship models what our country itself needs to forge: the capacity to connect across difference” (Hochschild, 13)
Hochschild went into the field with a perplexing dilemma on her mind she called the “great paradox.” The extremely pronounced presence of this paradox in Louisiana was one of the main reasons she chose to center her research there. The great paradox in simple terms is the phenomenon of people voting for or supporting things that are contradictory to their well-being. For example, Louisiana is one of the most polluted states in America, but the majority of the state’s population vehemently opposes government regulation of the environment. This paradox is important in Hochshild’s research because is something that makes it really hard for her to get over her empathy walls. I know I will have to face similar dilemmas when conducting my own research.
One thing that continually eludes reason or science is the way that people feel. This is a common theme throughout humanity. If one is able to diagnose why someone feels the way they do, that person is on their way to understanding that person. The way we feel is at the core of our beliefs. Hochschild calls that core a “deep story.” An example of this is when she is deliberating with a woman named Madonna Massey who claimed to love Rush Limbaugh. Hochshild felt that Limbaugh was “harshly opinionated,” but clearly Madonna felt otherwise (Hochschild, 22) After engaging in discussion with Madonna, she was able to get a glimpse of the Louisianian’s deep story. She discovered that she felt the way that she did because Limbaugh’s commentaries were a wall of protection against the insults that Madonna felt were directed towards her by the far left.
As I eluded to in the previous paragraph, visits or interviews are a really important aspect of fieldwork. Like Hochschild’s experience with Madonna, a person can get to the roots of issues by discovering how people feel about them. By asking good questions that incite a helpful conversation about the issues at hand, one will find that this interviews are very useful for research. One important point that Hochschild makes though, is the fact that her interviews rarely felt like interviews. She remarked that people “often said it was very nice visiting with you” (Hochschild, 17). This is crucial because people feel a lot more comfortable and tend to give more useful information when discussing sensitive topics if they are asked questions in a casual setting where there is still a professional purpose.
Finally, Hochschild discussed the importance of “follow-arounds.” Follow-arounds are exactly what they sound like: it’s literally just following people around. Although this sounds like a simple tool, it is of utmost importance when one is trying to understand a culture; especially one they don’t understand. Hochschild makes it clear that an enormous chunk of political views originates from the culture. So what better way to delve into a culture than by following people around and engaging in their everyday activities? Hochschild’s follow-arounds stood out to me because they are simply a form of participant-observation.
I am extremely curious about what I am going to find while conducting fieldwork this quarter. I am thankful that Hochschild has already gone through a lot of what I am going to be experiencing because I have the wonderful opportunity to learn from her. I am anxious to employ these tools and principles in my own quest to understand a person that is politically different from me.
Sander's Anthropology Blog 