Life Interview

TRY TO ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS (But always let them keep talking and go on tangents whenever they feel like it!)

1. Tell me about your most vivid memories from childhood: for example: what was your family like; do remember being a kid; your siblings; going to school; best friends; did you have hobbies; were you really good or bad at something; where did you grow up; did you have pets?
2. What was school like in high school (and college) for you? For example: what group did you belong to; did you play sports or an instrument; how were your teachers; what were some popular clothes; favorite bands; what did you want to be when you grew up?
3. How did you decide to follow the career path you have taken? For example: did you always want to do _____ work; what else might you have done; did you ever have a job you really hated; what has been your favorite job; what do you think was most important when deciding on a job?
4. Describe some of the relationships you have had in your life: for example: who was your best friend as a child; do you like groups of friends or close friendships; who was your first crush; when did you start dating; did you have a first love; who do you miss a lot from your past; who are you looking forward to meeting in the future?
5. What are your plans for the future? For example: where would you travel if you could; would you go back to school; have you always been interested in a hobby; do you daydream; do you feel more free now than when you were younger?

Delving in Deep on a Specific Topic

CHOOSE one OR expand upon something they said that caught your attention in the first questions. Maybe there is something they wanted to tell you about; it is not a rigid interview.

1. Describe a memorable/life changing/challenging/or humorous event that occurred in your life when you were my age. How did it affect your life at the time? What do you think about it now?

What could you tell me about it now that I might not have understood if you told me before (when I was younger)? Does it make you feel like I know you better by telling me?

2. Tell me about a person that had a big impact on your life. How did you know them and why did they have such an effect? Do you feel like you know them or they know you in a way no one else knows them? What happened to them? Do they know they had such a big impact on your life? What would they think about all you have accomplished now?

After each interview is completed, you should review your notes and write up anything you wanted to add to their answers being very careful to accurately explain the nuance and detail of their answers.

THE WRITE-UP

This is the part of the project where you combine their emic perspective and your etic perspective to create an ethnographic life history. Think carefully about how you can tell this person’s story in a way that both accurately represents what they have told you, but also situates their narrative within a broader anthropological framework.

• You will want to transcribe the interviews so that you can easily incorporate the data into your ethnography (paper).
• You will want to have a list of anthropological concepts (key terms from course texts/films) and ethnographic examples from our course that can help illustrate how this person’s story fits into a broader cultural environment. So, for example, if they were telling you about their work, you could use concepts from our economics/subsistence chapters to help explain the context of that work (e.g. capitalist market economy, wage labor, specialization, and so forth). You could use the example of work in another culture that might differ significantly because of subsistence strategies. This is how we use one person’s experience to give us insight into a culture.
• You might also want to do a small amount of research on some of the aspects of their life. So, for example, if they said they grew up in Oceanside, you could look up some demographic data from Oceanside at the time they were growing up and include that. If they said they had a particular hobby, you could research that to give the reader more background on the hobby.

Once you have all of the data listed above, you will being drafting your paper. Consider how you want to organize their narrative. Since it is an ethnography, you can organize it in any way that you would like. For example, you could start with a story they told, you could start with your own introduction to who they are, you could start by telling about the cultural context within which they live. Ethnographic writing is, at once, scientifically accurate, careful, and critically thought out, but also engaging and interesting to read. Think about the various articles and chapters we have read throughout the semester. Think about how they present the ideas.

The final paper must:

• Be 1000-1250 words (4-5 pages) in length – it can be longer as well
• Times New Roman 12pt font; normal margins, use the citation style favored by your major e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago-style.
• Include a Work’s Cited page that includes ALL materials used to write/research the paper
• Be mostly free from grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors
• Include data from interviews in the form of direct quotes and paraphrased information
• Include multiple concepts from course materials and references to examples in the course texts/films that illustrate key points in the interview
• Be written in a clear and coherent manner demonstrating critical thought
• Be sent to the person interviewed once completed