Fieldwork

In the most general sense, fieldwork is the process of collecting information about people, cultures and natural environments ‘in the field.’ It’s a term used to describe research methodology across the arts and sciences.

In community settings, it has particular associations, most commonly perhaps with oral history and folklore. This involves recording first-hand testimonies and personal narratives from people in everyday situations, as well as their cultural expressions in the form of songs, stories, crafts, and other lore. These recordings not only form an important archival resource for future generations, but also feed directly into our contemporary work within communities.

Community oral history is increasingly popular, and there are countless projects as varied as the communities themselves – each bringing new perspectives, challenging our view of the past as well as giving voice to those people excluded from traditional historical records. Not all recordings of people talking are considered oral histories, however. ‘Oral History’ proper is a specific discipline which involves collecting first-hand evidence of the past. It needs to be recorded, documented and archived to professional standards to make sure that recordings are preserved and made accessible for future generations.

“Documenting these vernacular expressions is key to uncovering the unique facets of local identity and the connection of people to place; hence, the collecting of folklore and oral histories is a means to create excellent resources for promoting a community’s engagement with and its confidence in its local culture.” Local Voices

In the field of folklore, there is a long tradition of fieldwork and collecting that, in Scotland, goes back to at least the 18th century. It changed character as technology advanced, revolutionised by sound recording in the early 20th century, and with the digital media of our time, there are new possibilities in relation to what UNESCO calls ‘intangible cultural heritage,’ living culture, or ICH.

Fieldwork has always played a vital role in culture - for example, collecting knowledge and material before it is lost, creating a collective cultural memory for the future.

An iconic example in the Scottish context is the ethnological fieldwork of Hamish Henderson, pictured here with the Traveller Ailidh Dall Stewart (1882–1968) up in Sutherland in the 1950s. He collected songs, stories, beliefs, practices, social history. Much of this fieldwork is now available digitally via the online archive resource Tobar an Dualchais or the Kist O Riches, which contains tens of thousands of field recordings.

As well as oral histories, fieldwork can take the form of first-hand testimonies, reminiscence, conversations, short reflections and impressions. Used creatively – in its audio/video form or transcribed into written text or otherwise – fieldwork can - and has - formed the basis for research projects, community heritage projects, consciousness raising work, art installations, theatre performance, films, radio shows, podcasts and multimedia music projects. This is really what creative ethnology is all about.

Henderson talked about ‘the Carrying Stream’ – a metaphor which speaks to the idea of a living flow of culture that stretches into the past and flows on into the future, a constant source available to and necessary for artists of all kinds to ‘remake and renew’ the culture. Each generation has the potential to create new meaning in dialogue with what has come before. Henderson is an interesting example too because his fieldwork also fed into the wider Folk Revival movement during his time, into various forms of activism and community action as well as the Worker’s Education movement.

Current ideas on co-production and citizen fieldwork and are part of a legacy that began with workers education and community action. The idea of ‘dig where you stand’ has its origins in the adult education movement, encouraging public participation in research in local history, particularly worker’s history. Citizen fieldwork is about giving people the tools to collect information from the people we or they know in our own place, locality or community. It is sometimes described as ‘self-collecting’ or ‘own collecting.’

Citizen fieldwork challenges popular perceptions of fieldwork as ‘salvage work,’ that is, setting out to capture the last fragments of something before it is lost. Fieldwork isn’t necessarily about folklore or the past - it can be about our contemporary lives and stories. It’s about reflecting back a diverse, living culture. The primary aim is to recognise, affirm and celebrate the value and diversity of local culture, an approach that has the potential to be both transformative and create a deeper and more lasting legacy in communities than traditional fieldwork by an individual.

As cultural activist Arlene Goldbard has written (2006), a strong through-line in community cultural work through the decades has been to add human-scale information and meaning by collecting and sharing local voices, in the form of first-person testimonies. It’s about bearing witness. Reflecting on the power of oral history in communities in this context, she reflects, ‘fieldwork is relationship building. It builds confidence, capacity and connective tissue.’ It can bring generations together. It can uncover connections that cut across time. Fieldwork can create space for a plurality of voices to be heard, especially those who have been excluded, aspiring to what Goldbard calls the condition of ‘full cultural citizenship’:

“ ...everyone feels at home in their own communities. All heritages are honoured for their contributions to the collective culture. Difference is embraced as a source of richness and wisdom. And wanting to know each other takes the place of fearing the other.”