Example of narrative field note from work in
Suburban
Dublin.
The following has not been edited, not even for typographical or grammatical
errors. They have of course not been edited for errors of fact and
interpretation which I cleared later in my fieldwork. I strongly believe that
fields notes must never be so edited as the very errors can be instructive.
The
names of all individuals mentioned have been altered. The conventions used
here
are explained elsewhere.
86-06-08 -- New York -- HHV001 [lnirefh:fdnh-001-860608.wp5]
Last night (Saturday), at about 8 pm, I received a call from
a woman identifying herself as a student of Ray's who had
learned from him that I was going to Ireland and needed information
about schools. Later I found that her name is
Jill Wooley,
that she works in some Irish governmental bureaucracy designed
to help "American expatriates" who work for American business
relocate in Ireland. She has been in the States for two
years, I think, and is staying one more year. Two or three
times, she made the point of stressing that she was not from
Dublin, even though she did go to Trinity for college. She
was born in some town in Co. Tipperary. She is married but
I didn't find an occasion to ask about her husband.
I first told her about our need to know about
schools.
She asked about the age of the children, I told her about our
writing to Mount Anville (the school run by the
Sacred Heart),
she knew about this and later mentioned that this was an
upper-middle class school, she emphasized that the issue
of the sex of the children is paramount and that she didn't
know much about schools for boys but that her husband, who
is "a real Dubliner," would know.
Interspeced within this conversation, there was another conversation
about housing.
She told me that her husband and she have
a house "far outside, up in the hill," in Rathfarnham and
that they rented it for 275 pounds. She asked whether we
wanted to buy. We agreed to talk more about this.
{the question about buying may be an indication
of her work with expatriates
and the way American companies
organize the lives of their employees}
Also interspeced were comments about what I want to do in
Ireland which I am trying to phrase as follows: "I am interested
in how the Irish deal with influences from outside the country,
which is why I want to talk to people who work with American
businesses or any other business that does international
work."
She told me that she has the name of 300 American companies
that do business in Ireland and that she would give me this
list and the name of the people who organize orientation
for expatriates.
{I must try to go through this orientation.
This would be most interesting in two ways: 1) it would make
me meet some other people who have extensive contact with
international matters; 2) it would give me another source
for data about self-presentation and self-creation.}
We made an appointment to meet in my office next Wenesday
at 7:30. She is going to try and bring her husband.
{Later Susan suggested that we invite them
for dessert at home. This is a good idea, which we will
try to implement. I wonder why this did not occur to me
during the conversation. Jill Wooley certainly did not
make me feel that she was fishing for an invitation}
{at some point, J.W. said "as you can hear
it from my accent, I am Irish." I would have
classified it
as mid-British. There is a small mystery here.}
October 4, 1996