Two Weeks Flew By...

During the first two weeks I spent at the Karuna Trust primary health center (PHC), I used techniques in medical anthropology to begin evaluating and formulating some thoughts on the effectiveness of model public health initiative. This experience has allowed me to feel like an anthropologist, to think like an anthropologist, and to decide that simply being an anthropologist is not enough. The first two points I will start to discuss in this post, but the last point, I believe may take a few more posts to fully explain.

Everyone knows the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The cliché seems to appear in many forms and in many stages throughout our lives. This cliché is what an ethnographer tries to overcome when she tries to get beneath the skin of the population to the very essence. Such a task requires that she immerses herself fully in the place of study. Some initial steps maybe buying clothes worn in the locality, learning the language, or even starting to forget about elements of her place of origin. These small steps are necessary, but establishing a rapport with the community is vital in eliciting the knowledge or the low-down. The relationship at first always seems to be suppressed by formalities; only when you are around all the time and you are a fixed figure in the environment, do the formalities begin to melt away. I’m speaking like someone who has been in the field for years and years, but I am very much a beginner.

These weeks have allowed me to tease apart the history of the PHC and its unique focus on mental health through interviews and observations. The NGO’s decision to form a public-private partnership with the government has significantly impacted the roles individuals possess currently and the type of programming that the PHC now supports. But, this sensitive knowledge and opinions regarding the transitions would never have been revealed if it were not for the rapport that was established between us, researchers, and members of the community, the health workers of the PHC. Whether it is just being around the clinic everyday or sharing a meal with the nurses, in just two weeks we were hearing about the complaints about the medical officer, being invited to housewarming ceremonies, and receiving text messages from a very flirty and totally ridiculous field worker.

I am not saying it only takes 2 weeks to become integrated into a brand new community. But, for me it certainly helps that I am Indian, can semi speak Tamil even though I am in a Kannada-speaking land (the place where I am staying borders Tamil Nadu so people can sometimes understand Tamil), and just always have a smile on my face. Although there is an element of distance that arises when using a translator, at times I can make out some words and try to observe body language and speech patterns to detect unsaid cues, and sometimes having a feeling in your bones helps too...

I still have a week and half to finish up the case study before heading back to Bangalore to analyze and travel, but this entry is a start of a series to share with you the issues that irked me and meetings and interviews that transformed me. Hopefully, writing this will also help me shape my future.