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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'To Be Kwii is Good': A Personal Account of Research in a Kpelle Village
Author:David, M. Soniia
Year:1992
Periodical:Liberian Studies Journal
Volume:17
Issue:2
Pages:203-215
Language:English
Geographic term:Liberia
Subjects:Kpelle
anthropological research
Anthropology and Archaeology
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Bibliography/Research
Cultural Roles
research
Abstract:The term 'kwii' is used throughout Liberia to refer to the ways of Westernized or educated people. The author, a female Americo-Liberian researcher with no previous rural experience and background, conducted fieldwork for her doctoral dissertation from March 1989 to March 1990 in a rural Kpelle community in Upper Bong County, north-central Liberia, where she investigated economic relations between Kpelle husbands and wives in the village of Gbaomu. This paper reflects on her fieldwork experiences. The discussion contributes to two separate discussions in social science research: the growing interest among anthropologists in the experience of the 'native' researcher (although, unlike the typical 'native' researcher, the present author was not studying her own ethnic group), and the effects of the researcher's gender on fieldwork experiences. Other issues addressed include the choice of methodologies, the experiences of adapting to a new culture and of conducting research during times of war (the Liberian civil war began at the end of December 1989, three months before the author planned to complete her research in Gbaomu). Bibliogr., notes.
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