As part of my studies I need to interview elders in an indigenous community, preferably in South Africa.
Best Wishes Hana for your assignment. You need some tact and skill to interview elders. Otherwise all you need is to follow the local social customs, and your job is done!
I have conducted many of my researches in rural communities and I have dealt with many traditional authorities and elders there (Freely download some of my valuable studies on my RG profile and study the methodological approaches I employed).
First, do well to follow local customs from greetings to everything.
Show genuine interest in the people especially their welfare.
Explicitly explain the purpose of the study and how it will help their development (If you need a local interpreter to do this eloquently for you or lead you to do this, do so please).
Make sure your project does not overstep any of their highly valued cultural practices (This is very crucial if you want to win their lasting trust).
Seek to offer personal interviews with the traditional leaders due to the high positions they hold. Its a great sign of respect you show for their positions.
Offer focus group discussions with the elders. It really works well as it alleviates their fears and misconceptions of the actual intentions of many of the rural projects and studies we carry out.
If possible, use both participatory and non-participatory observation approaches.
Put yourself in their shoes. If possible, live like them for the period of the research and let them see you as their 'own'. A phenomenological approach to such studies really yield best results.
I wish you all the best. You can contact me for more information ([email protected])
@Emmanuel, thank you for the kind wishes. Yes I agree special skills are needed to interview elders in the community. Unfortunately I cannot follow social customs etc as you suggested. I need to delve a bit deeper to gain more insight, so interviewing elders is my only option.
@Dickson, thank you so much for this response. I will definitely be contacting you via email.
Hana, in Colombia 3 book
1. Jimeno Myriam. 2006. Juan Gregorio Palechor: historia de mi vida. Bogotá. ICANH.
2. Muelas Hurtado, Lorenzo y Urdaneta Franco, Martha L. 2005. La fuerza de la gente. juntando los recuerdos sobre la terrajería en Guambía-Colombia. Bogotá. ICANH
3.Gros, Christian. 2009. A mí no me manda nadie! Historia de vida de Trino Morales. Bogotá. ICANH
- Badges
- Science topic