When the Field Is a World and Lifestyle Away

The Anthropology Department’s fall program “What I Did Last Summer” taught its audience a lot about the adventure of field work in another country. But it also demonstrated the personal growth that occurs when students leave the comforts of home for less hospitable living conditions.

Department head Martha Rees says, “When we send students into the field, we want them to learn about others as well as themselves. Often immersion in different cultures brings on culture shock, the conflict between here and there. While not always fun, culture shock is a good thing. This conflict is the space where growth and critical analysis take place because it leads us to the realization that it’s not just difference, but also universals like family, love, and home that unite us.”

Two students who spoke at the fall event both returned home more aware of these “universals.” Graduate student Sheli DeLaney traveled with Rees to Oaxaca, Mexico, to conduct interviews with family members whose loved ones are working in Cincinnati. After interviewing four Mexican women who had left their families to strive for more prosperous lives working in Hamilton, Ohio, she was surprised to discover that they the did not share some Americans’ belief that Mexican workers are ill treated in the United States.

“They gave me a different perspective,” she says. “The people working here make many times what they could at home, and they’re grateful for the opportunity, despite the risk and sacrifice. The women were deeply dedicated to their families. Everything they did was for the future of their children.”

Most of the families they visited in Mexico lived off subsistence farming and any livestock they were fortunate enough to own. DeLaney explains, “The typical rural family had a cornfield, a house, and a few animals. You could tell which received migration money because they had at least one house made of one or two rooms of concrete block. The less fortunate had only small shelters constructed of sticks and mud with dirt floors. Not even the wealthiest had running water, but everyone had electricity, a television, even DVD players. They were poor by Western standards, but the fact they allowed themselves luxury items told me they recognize the importance of leisure time and seek it as much as we do.”

What impressed Delaney most about the people she met was that in spite of their poverty, “they would give you the last of whatever they had just to be good hosts and then thank you for coming to visit.”

Jayme Csonka, an undergraduate with a double major in anthropology and geology, also gained a lot of insight on her trip to the Himalayas. For example, unlike Americans who expect reliable roadways, Indians are not so demanding. Constant geologic activity leaves their roads slumped, filled with avalanche debris, and often impassable. The tools to maintain them don’t make the jobs of construction workers any easier, as she noticed when she saw laborers using only pickaxes and shovels.

She and her team from McMicken’s Geology Department found themselves in a compromising position when they came upon a bridge that collapsed under the weight overload of two trucks crossing at the same time. The team was forced to abandon their jeeps and cooking supplies and cross the flooded area with a zip line and a basket. Csonka remembers hiking two kilometers along the riverbank, carrying all of her gear until she and her team found new jeeps and drivers.

Losing their cooking supplies meant the team had to eat in dhabas, which are restaurant-like tents or stone huts. “They definitely were not made for 18 people,” Csonka recalls. “I occasionally had to sit on bags of rice to eat.” Though she and her traveling companions saw few people in the high altitudes of the Himalayas, she says, “I observed incredible poverty and lavish wealth, from the tarp covered huts of construction camps to the prolific marble and semi-precious stone encrusted Taj Mahal. India is a country rich in history and population but young in independence.”

The experience provided not only greater understanding of India’s way of life but also glimpses of beauty that left permanent memories of the trip. Csonka notes that the breath-taking views and dramatic adventures made changes in her value system: “Being in the Himalayas changed my sense of scale. What I thought was big wasn’t really as big as I thought in the past.”

Students who participate in fieldwork have a lot to gain. As Rees says, “Even sitting on a stool in a dark, smoky room, drinking watery orange juice of dubious origin makes me feel lucky. It’s a privilege to be able to learn about other people; it’s a gift they give us, admitting us into their homes and lives.”