July 23, 2014
The last session of OFW2014 Preparatory Seminar was provided by Prof. Wataru Kusaka from GSID. In his lecture, Prof. Kusaka briefly introduced the relationship bewteen researchers and informants and the points needed attention for a sucessful fieldwork in the stages including Pre-departure, In the field and After research. Then, Prof. Kusaka shared his experiences as a master student in the fieldwork conducted in urban poor community in Metro Manila, Philippines from 2002 to 2003. Photos and descriptions about his “participatory observation” showed the exciting perspectives, difficulties and challenges for students and researchers in the fieldwork. Finally, each group shared their understanding about ethinic issues which they may need to pay attention during the fieldwork.
Also, in this session, we showed our appreciation to Dr. Naret from RUPP for his continuous support and instruction for this year’s OFW Preparatory Seminars. We look forward to seeing him again in the forthcoming fieldwork in August.
The preparatory seminars for OFW2014 was closed by distributing souvenir fees for each working group. Participants were happy to receive the fund for them to select souvenirs for their informants. Meanwhile, it also means that the real fieldwork is going to start soon.
Wish every group a safe and fruitful fieldwork!