Fieldwork on Foot in the 1970s

Abstract

Ethnographic fieldwork without wheels or electronics! This paper presents reflections on my experience carrying out fieldwork in the 1970s in Ghana: learning to live in a village, being part of a small ethnic group; listening to people, being able to talk to them, to ask questions and understand the answers given as clearly as possible. Then, over time and on successive visits, my experience included exploring history and local cultural ideas, both oral and written, and attempting to decipher the contemporary lives of both villagers and migrants, and the relationships among them within their cultural matrix.