Chapter Seven Reflection Question

After a lot of thought I came up with a place that I would like to do my fieldwork, if I was a folklorist. My freshman year I had taken another folklore class and in this class we had a guest speaker, who talk up his fieldwork in the hills of North and South Carolina. I loved listening to all of his stories and wished that I could have had more time asking him questions and picking his brain. To me the mountains of the Carolina’s and the life style seem very interesting.

In the Carolina’s there is so much history that has occurred there. There is so much to visit and learn about and I would love to be apart of it. What I would love to study most, is the way of life of a Tar Heel, and the life style of a Carolinian. A way that I would try to accomplish this study, is I would try and find a family member or somebody I know who lives in one of the Carolina’s. I would then stay with them for a while and travel the country side. I would drive and stop at random spots and do my research. I would research the foods they eat, the music they listen to. I would study the person/family’s daily routine. I would study the jobs and task they perform and after they were done with their work, I would then study what they do for entertainment. If possible I would stay a couple days with these random individuals and submerge myself into their life. I would try and get the most out of my experience as possible. I would like to spend three to six months studying and doing my fieldwork. I would try getting in as many individuals and families as I could. I would then compare there way of life to my way life, to see the differences.

The reason that I feel this would be worth doing, is to inform all the other people studying this topic, the necessary information. People could use my experiences to gather the proper information that they need. Also maybe my information and knowledge could fuel someone else simple curiosity. Ultimately the main reason this would be worth doing, is to satisfy my own curiosity.

This is in response to the chapter seven reflection question.