|
||
| The purpose of these periodic updates is to promote openness and transparency of
the fieldwork experience during fieldwork. Much of the data I produce/collect will
only properly be processed after many months. It would be foolish of me to be too
open too early with raw data. However I am committed to the idea that field work
should not be done in secrecy and the methods anthropologists use are not sacred
knowledge. Eslewhere I try to make some raw data available but not wanting to sabotage
myself too much I am restricting most data until a later date. Eventually I hope
to make all data that would not place anyone's life or material well being in jeopardy
open and available. This section is intended to provide an account of some of the
events and emotions that I experience during field work without compromising the
safety or privacy of individuals (except perhaps my own-- but that is my choice).
To this end I make these pages available to anyone without passwords or other restriction
devices. Upon my arrival I was treated extremely well. Once past the inevitable hassle of Islamabad airport porters and all the people who try to carry your bags for you or change money for you or just want you give them money for nothing-- Islamabad is an easy city to be in. It is relatively clean and there are few beggars (certainly fewer than London or Paris). It lacks some of the South Asian charm of cities like Lahore but it is a good transition city to go from Europe to South Asia. I was met at the airport and driven directly to the guest house-- Shelton Guest House (just a quikc plug for a fairly decent guest house with nice people). My next few days were spent trying to arrange internet service and and saying hello to friends in Islamabad. One aspect of Pakistan that seems to be true anywhere is that you MUST pay your respects shortly after arrival. Friends get very upset if you've been in town a long time and haven't bothered to contact them. They may not see you again for months but they genuinely want to know you're around so they COULD call you if they had time. This is not as easy it might sound since sometimes you can get away with simply calling and saying 'Hi I'm back in town-- someday we'll get together'. Other times you must have tea or dinner with them. I had only three days in Islamabad and not nearly enough time see everyone and certainly no time to go see friends in Lahore. So I admit I didn't call everyone I should have (or wanted to)-- so those friends I didn't call have my most sincere apologies. They have my permission to call me all the foul names they can think of behind my back. After a busy few days in Islamabad I made my way to Bhalot to be greeted to a hero's welcome. I was accompanied everywhere I went and spent my time saying hello to friends I made in my last two visits. The first night was very long. We didn't get to sleep until well past midnight. The second day in the village one of the Malik family got married. I had lunch with his family who were all very pleased at the occasion. Sadly I had a terrible cold so I did not accompany the wedding party to Rawalpindi for the actual ceremony. Instead I opted for an early night's rest (which I still didn't quite manage). The following day I woke up to the sad news that someone had died in the village the previous night. I attended the prayers for the deceased. The ceremony was much shorter than I would have imagined. I had missed some of the preparations-- the body was apparently washed as soon as it was returned from the hospital. There were approximately 150 people at the prayers. After the prayer they dispersed into smaller groups to chat or work. I followed one of the principle zamindars of the village to another man's dhera (guest house) for tea. There he explained to me in a bit more detail the functioning of the jirga and the role of zamindar arbitration. |
||
Return to Home Page |