Field Journal

Our jeepnie roared through the smog filled streets of Manilla. The chater of traffic, honking horns and sqeeky breaks filled the air. Almost drowning this noise was the throng of people who were filling the city. Merchants selling food, cloths, and watches bellowed their products with competing voices while customers argued for a cheaper price. For me, these sounds were muted. My four year old eyes were fixed on the old man next to me. His back seemed curved, but his hands, they were solid. He was clenching a dirty baseball cap, which I am sure he had owned for some time. Suddenly, his grip loosened; almost startled I looked up. The old man was staring directly at me with a smile I will never forget. Even though I was so young, I can remember that his gaze reached deep inside me. It was a feeling of familiarity and somehow love.

I can imagine that my four year old eyes lit as I returned a smile. Yet, something inside me did not reflect that light. It was a yearning. I somehow yearned for an understanding of this man, of his life, of his face; he was so different from my American parents. I wish I could say that yearning was filled, but I cannot. Instead that yearning has grown into an intense desire to understand my brothers and sisters; whether they are from L.A., the Bronx, India or Egypt.

This Blog will be dedicated to showing how I will do this.



For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by Islamic culture.

That's why the first thing I did after turning 21, was apply to two Universities in Pakistan; University of Hazara (in the Northwest Frontier Province) and University of the Punjab (in Lahore). I saw both of these Universities as opportunities to immerse myself in Islamic culture while learning languages I had always been mesmerized by (Urdu and Arabic). The pleads of my mother convinced me otherwise- at the time, Pakistan was often featured on U.S. news as a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Despite being accepted into both Universities, I withdrew both applications with the hope that some other option would open.

During this time, I was working as a forklift driver in Germany. Shortly after rejecting both offers, my employer offered me a job opportunity in Iraq as a retail store manager. After several months of paper work and government beurocracy, I was on my way to Tikrit, Iraq. In Tikrit I had a staff of over 25 Indian, Pakistani, and Napalese workers. This job was my dream; I was in the heart of Mesopotamia, working with Southwest Asians.

After this year in Iraq, I returned to Germany. During this time I applied to Brigham Young University, a school known for it's outstanding MESA program. I was subsequently rejected. I decided to take my studies into my own hands. I moved to Giza where I studied Arabic. After 4 months in Egypt, I flew to the United States where I attended the Spring/Summer terms at BYU as a visiting student. After this short period, I was accepted as a full time student into BYU, where I currently study Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic.

The culmination of these events will occur next semester, Winter 2012. During this semester, I will complete a field study in Oman, a country filled with Third Country Nationals, and rich Islamic heritage. I will continue to explain more about my research and preparations over the next few months...



Today has been fantastic.

The only thing I have bought is a 60 cent soda in a vending machine; yet I have traveled to a exotic location with a robust language and culture.

Actually, exotic location is a bit of a stretch. I went to the basement of the JFSB yesterday for church:)

Robust language and culture, however, that is not a stretch at all. I attended services with a deaf congregation. It was really amazing to me how distinct their culture really is. It is true that culture in many ways defines language. However, language must also have a huge affect on culture. I noticed such a distinct cultural difference among this group which is ethnically, religiously and politically homogonous with the society around them.

It was nonetheless a fantastic experience which I hope to write more about later...



I have found some really interesting resources for my field study. I am definitely leaning towards a linguistic study of South Arabian Arabic. I am not sure if I want to go the ancient or the modern route yet.

The first article details LDS research done in Yemen/Oman concerning Book of Mormon history in the region. From the article, it is very clear that quite a bit can be done in regard to linguistics.

The other three articles deal specifically with pre-islamic South Arabian languages and their evolution. It is very fascinating, as I have always had an interest in Amharic. The script is very closely related.

Lynn M. Hope Hilton, "In Search of Lehi's Trail," Ensign, Oct 1976.

F Scagliarini, "The Dedanitic inscriptions from Jabal 'Ikma in north-western Hejaz" Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 29, 143-150.

Peter Stein, "The Ancient South Arabian Minuscule Inscriptions on Wood: A New Genre of Pre-Islamic Epigraphy". Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap "Ex Oriente Lux" 39: 181–199.

betram Thomas, "Anthropological Observations in South Arabia", The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 62, (Jan. - Jun., 1932), pp. 83-103

The last three are pretty heavy reading. It is worth the time to examine it.



My biggest obstacle so far is good ideas... and that's not such a bad thing:)

Everyday, I read an article or see a picture in the newspaper which gives me another idea of an awesome research project. The smartest thing to do at this point, however, seems to be pick two ideas, and hold to them. I will develop one main research proposal and another secondary. The purpose for the secondary is my fear of a project getting rejected, or instability in the Middle East. It is not uncommon for conditions in the region to change overnight; that mixed with oversensitive travel advisory warnings is not a bueno thing. So I do that, even though both projects are in relatively stable conditions.



I have been spending a lot of time working on my blog. jaja, I know it is hard to tell; that is the frustrating part! My biggest problem is understanding how to manipulate formats to create what I want. For example, I wanted to create other pages for the blog, I wanted to change one so it becomes static, I want to upload a video from my computer (not youtube) and I want to change my background photo. I started with the background photo, and thus far have not been able to do anything. I know you need to manipulate the CSS but when i do so, it only changes my blog completely black (which is not exactly what I want). Anyways, if my blog is off and on, that is why. My classmate offered to help, so I might try that. But for tonight, I will just write in this journal.



Today was great. This morning I was researching approaches for my project (which will use diet as a key indicator for cultural integration). This appoach will be quite intensive in statistics. Coincidentally, I ran into a girl who use to live in my complex. She is taking a few statistic classes (albeit a math major at the moment), and her father is a Prof in the statistics department. That is great because I know what a huge challenge it is to do statistics correctly...it is HARD! I ran the idea past her. She talked with me for a little bit about a few statistical tests which would present and contrast the data which I need. I am still not sure about the project though, because I have concerns if it is a valid method to measure what i am trying to measure. I will keep lookin into it. I just don't want to put to much time into a project I would not actually be doing.



Today we are suppose to have our research question looking good. I spent some time on my e-mail account; looking at research questions I have made, as well as examples teachers have given me. I have a little bit of a mental block...I guess because the inherent difficulty of giving short concise data in question format.

After quite some time of designing and redesigning my question (as well as designing and redesigning my project) I still have some thinking to do. I guess it is a smart way to do things, cause it forces you to examine the feasibility of your research question.



Got a lot of "little" stuff done, which wasn't really that little cause it is essential: ) so I feel happy in a moderate kinda way. Here is what I did:

 I was able to get on my mom's insurance and take care of my teeth. I had some really bad pain a few months ago. Turned out it was an abses tooth, so I got that taken care of (it won't be hurting me at least when I am abroad:) with a root canal, and some cleaning. I found my passport, and got another one (so I have two). This will help me in case countries don't like other countries I have been to (ex Israel). I also got completely updated on immunizations. Even though it is not a sure thing where I will be, it is exciting knowing I am ready to be there.














2 comments:

  1. Hey Kevin,
    I did my field study in Tonga over the summer, and I had the same problem as you did: having lots of ideas and not feeling confident committing to one of them as "your project." It was hard and I'd say i changed my focus a lot while in the field. But now that i've been home for a few months and have done a few drafts of my paper, I've seen how much my project has continued to evolve. My thesis is different now than it was even 3 weeks ago. I just keep finding new spins on my data and different ideas keep coming on what things mean. So don't worry too much about nailing down your project idea, because it will change even after your in-field research has ended. Just keep finding things that interest you, and don't become stagnant in your ideas. Best of luck!

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  2. Hi Kevin,
    this morning I listened to the radio and they were talking about some insights a western professor had of her time in Saudi Arabia. That women in Saudi Arabia arent allowed to drive and always need a driver. (As a sidenote: Interesting are the recent protests against that law of women not being allowed to hold a drivers license. Check out Tamador al Jamis post or the many news articles in Spiegel and on the news like Tagesschau. You can find them on google as you type in Saudi Arabien Frauen Fahrverbot.)
    She was also talking about women and education. It is a difficult subject, because in that country the gender division has to be kept. How do you keep men and women separate at a university? Women are allowed to attend university, but only certain classes and courses that fit more the gender role. Women are more in the private sector, so they can study classes like interior design for instance. She mentioned how women always try new ways to fill their space. For instance there opened a new bookstore which was divided in two sections. One section for the men, one for the women. This bookstore contained bookshelves which one can flip around. In those bookshelves women and men would hide little notes. So men and women were able to communicate through notes in the bookshelves. She also talked about her experience as a western woman trying to really keep the dresscode. Sometimes she wouldnt be aware that she made mistakes and violated a law.... like that her scarf wasnt bound in the right way or some clothe not being long enough and how communication about this matter happens through signals not through words.
    What I found interesting was her conclusion that in order for women to be able to have more freedom in living their life as a woman in Saudi Arabia the solution would not be to adapt western lifestyle and a western model of society. She talked to a lot of women over there and what`s interesting is, that the women ASK how women over here are able to live in the western society, it wouldnt work for them. Kinda like the little "male dominated " joke that you posted. They couldnt imagine to live like a western woman and dont want it, they like that someone is "thinking about and for them and taking care of them" and they wouldnt be able or wouldnt want to live in a society in which the familybonds are not as strong or even falling apart.
    Anyways I think you should check out that professors field of study...its highly connected with your field study :). Other experiences are in Pakistan and she speaks several languages besides arabic. You find this amazing woman on the university of Bozen, Bildungswissenschaften....her first name is Annemarie ;-).

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