Fieldwork: the unique moments and challenges

Fieldwork is done!

5 payams, 28 interviews of generally 1.5 hours, 20 full days of observations in different offices and in the field, 17 marriage proposals, and a huge amount of patience because of the waiting I frequently had to do, and finally I am done with fieldwork. It was fun, sometimes challenging, occasionally frustrating, and while I am not looking forward to finishing the remaining transcriptions (I am stuck at 12 now, so I have another 16 to go) I can’t wait to start with writing my chapters on results.

Generally, fieldwork was fun to do, and I’ve had a great time interviewing people. Particularly those interviews that lasted between an one-and-a-half and two hours were great to conduct, because of the stories people told me and the honesty with which they spoke to me. Those were the interviews that went best and I’ve gotten the most important information from for my thesis.

Interviewing generally took place in the different offices or sub-offices of the payams, though there have been some instances when this was not possible, like when I had to interview someone at her home who was on maternity leave or when I did an interview in a car (a bloody sauna I can tell you) because the military had taken over the sub-office due to the tightening of security in Juba.

However, sometimes fieldwork has also been quite heavy. Interviewing can take a lot of energy, particularly when I had to listen to people for a long period of time, while trying to keep focused on everything they say to be able to catch upon particular statements people made or to make them explicate some of the answers they gave me. Most of the time, I conducted one interview a day alongside some observations, but there have been days I have done two interviews, and one time even three. Usually, after such days I was completely knackered and unable to work on my transcriptions (or anything else that required thinking for that matter). During those evenings, I’ve mostly been listening to music (the newest cd of Blof, Alles Blijft Anders, disc V of the 100 Greatest of Herman van Veen and the music from the motion picture Amelié have proven to be the most favorite) or I have been watching one of the movies I downloaded before I left.

During fieldwork I’ve come across some unique situations, particularly during my observations. I for instance was an invited guest to two official transfer ceremonies between the leaving and newly appointed Directors of Juba Town payam and Northern Bari payam. At Juba Town, I witnessed together with all the heads of the different departments and the Director-General of the City Council, the transferal of duties – which involved a lengthy explanation of the duties of a Director and an introduction to all the departments and their head officers and naturally the signing of a huge amount of papers – and of course I had to sit through a major amount of farewell and welcome speeches as well. At Northern Bari I also had to sit through several speeches of the heads of Departments, members of the rural council and even a member of the County Council. All of this was done in Juba Arabic, though I did manage to grab the gist of what people were saying. At Juba Town I was asked to say a few words, as an international guest from the Netherlands. Nothing to grand thankfully, I just thanked the two gentlemen for being allowed to be present during the ceremony (that one I managed in Arabic) and I wished them fortune in their future careers. They seemed happy with it.

Another unique moment was when the Director of Northern Bari payam offered to drop me off at the compound with one of the payam cars. Northern Bari payam has two cars for its staff, which they use to pick everyone up in the morning (and because of that no one enters the office before 10.00h) and brings everyone home in the afternoon (with the result the payam closes its offices at 15.00h). However, when we were ready to depart, one of the cars decided to break down. For over one hour some of the local government officers tried to fix the car, while in the meantime the Director grumbled at me that government officers should also have knowledge in mechanics. In the end, we all went with one car, with all the ladies in the back and men in the open trunk. While it was extremely amusing at the time, it is also evidence of one the challenges of a lack of resources to local governance here in Southern Sudan.

Of course, there have also been moments during which I found fieldwork to be quit challenging. One time was when I had to conduct an interview with someone that had just been in the newspaper due to a huge land grabbing case between the SPLA and the community of Munuki payam. The person’s name had been mentioned in the newspaper, and as a result he and his family had been receiving several death threats the week before. Because of this, there was a military police officer with an AK-47 guarding his office, something I was quite conscious of during the interview. Moreover, when we discussed this land grabbing case the Officer had been dealing with and the subsequent threats, he suddenly showed me the gun he kept in the drawer in his desk. I remember thinking, “Okaaay, take a deep breath and act like it is normal.” I must have managed, because afterwards the Officer complimented me for a good interview. I will admit that later, after I had walked back to the compound, I found it slightly difficult to stop my hands from shaking the rest of the day.

Another challenging situation was when I went out to the field with one of the Administration Officers of Northern Bari payam. I joined him for the demarcation of a part of the market of the Gudele VI zone. We went there together with three surveyors from the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure, the chairman of the Trade Union and six heavily armed military police officers. The military police came along for security reasons, because demarcations often tend to result in tense situations within the local communities here. I had one of them appointed to myself, because two days before things had gotten out of hand during demarcations, and while the Administration Officer deemed it safe enough for me to join him, we couldn’t be too careful. I did some great observations during that day, and the demarcation actually went without incident (the Administration Officer said that was probably because of my presence). But I never felt comfortable, with this big guy in a uniform constantly guarding my back.

During fieldwork I’ve been sick twice. One time I was enjoying a good hangover from dancing the night before (wonderfully ‘studentikoos’) and during the interview the only thing I could keep thinking about three imaginary elephants that were dancing on top of my head and causing an enormous headache. The second time I was ill happened when I was dealing with a slight heatstroke after exploring the river bank with Stephen and enjoying problems with my stomach after drinking tea that had not been prepared well at the payam I was doing fieldwork. People tend to offer tea all the time, and because it is impolite to refuse I always accept, even if it is the terrible sweet African chai with at least seven spoons of sugar. While I did manage to conduct some good interviews during those three days I was ill, I hope never to conduct any fieldwork again when in between interviews and observations I am busy emptying my stomach.

But, I’ve managed to complete what I set out for, 25 interviews and another three extra. Last Friday I conducted my 25th interview, and as a reward I decided to go Rock City, a hotel with a new swimming pool of 33! meters. Best treat ever. I have included some pictures of Rock City and the swimming pool as proof, along with pictures I have taken at the payams I have done fieldwork. Officially, that is not allowed, but I always used the excuse that people in the Netherlands need to see the differences between local governance here in Sudan and back home. People then didn’t mind, as long as I were discreet. I even managed to take a picture of my personal military guard during the demarcation observation.

With fieldwork now finished, I have five-and-a-half days left for some final explorations of Juba, participating in the festivities leading up to independence, and a visit to Torit. Right after posting this, I will be going to Torit until Thursday, to visit Gemma, another Dutch graduate student who is doing fieldwork there. After that, we’ll both be coming back to Juba, to celebrate independence and to have a final blast here in Juba before I go back to the Netherlands.

With love,

Anika