Week 2 of the NFLC 2020 focused on the theme of community wellbeing, gender and power norms (relating to gender) under the broad umbrella of Anthropological studies. Lectures, readings and discussion covered the history, complexity and theories of ethnographic methods used in anthropological studies with a focus on gender.
The Cornell students got their first field visit to a hospital (Ashwini in Gudalur) and health workers working with the indigenous communities in the Sigur region. Our students also got to meet and speak with local healers and visit a local village to understand life in these parts. The students were also given a preview on indigenous worldviews, current threats to this perspective and Keystone’s work in this area.
Class activities and discussions on gender roles, power plays and its impact on gender made for some intense but interesting thought processes among the students. Practical activities such as time lining of gender events, how to conduct an interview process, constructing good open and close ended questions to develop thick descriptions, were some of the key research methods introduced in this week.
