not the motorcycle diaries

There’s a few questions coming up viz. my research project. Will I have enough time and language resources to conduct useful interviews? Is this something that really ought to be done as a six-month-or-more, live-in, anthropology-esque project? I am particularly concerned that if I can’t speak Portuguese well (which I can’t), and I don’t have an in-depth, detailed, situated understanding of Brazil, then whatever I produce in an ethnographic context (ie the proposed interviews with assentimento participants, at an actual assentimento) will be half-hearted at best in the absence of a more situated knowledge of the history and culture of landlessness and landless activism in Brazil (although in theory some of this could come later, and I could get an interpreter).

Another major issue is the way that I am being perceived and related to. Mostly because my Portuguese sucks, I am chiefly vulnerable and in need of extra help. On the whole, I am more an object of curiosity than one to be taken seriously. This is clearly compounded by the fact that I look even younger than my stately twenty-five years, am female and small and so on. All of this stuff (though mostly the foreigner/low Portuguese factor) is really impacting on my being taken seriously. And if I am going to get in-depth perspectives from people via research interview, then I need first of all to be taken seriously - unfortunately it’s a minimum requirement! I sat on the metro (which is awesome - SIYJ Sydney!) and tried to think of other foreign, non-party-aligned, unmarried, childless women under forty-five who have done something akin to my research plan - and could think of zero (and in fact, only two foreign women full stop). This is not to say that I think I am experiencing some sort of wildly abnormal prejudice - I think it’s just the complexity of my project panning out in reality and I am having to mull it over a fair bit - and speaks more of my initial naivete than anything else (which I have learned to embrace as a potentially useful personality trait ;-))

In view of some of these barriers it seems that some kind of interpretive observation is the medium I choose over structured interviews (which I only said I would do so I could get ethics clearance anyway), and I think that this is something which can be conditioned more unproblematically by the factors mentioned above - said factors could be more productive vantage points than serious barriers (I wonder if this is what I meant by ‘researcher sensibility’ that time in the department seminar when one of the staff asked me how exactly I was intending to carry my little project out?!). But is ‘observation’ sufficient, especially if it’s only for eight weeks? How would I go about structuring this, and then legitimating it for thesis purposes? And overall, what is the point of all this? Who benefits, what makes it worthwhile in the grander scheme of things? I’m preoccupied with these questions, amidst exhausting and continuing dealings with the Federal Police and the consulate (I thought my visa woes were left firmly back in Sydney!), and the thrill of hanging out with Ben and speaking Australian for a whole day on the weekend.

I am principally compelled to go to France sooner rather than later, and am consequently building up a potentially useless database of articles about Jose Bove. I keep thinking, is it really necessary that I stay in Brazil until the end of November? Would I be blowing or strengthening a carefully planned opportunity? Sigh … some of this will surely be clearer after a few meetings this week. And there are a few instances that are/will definitely yield something worthwhile, such as:

1. the absorption from generally being here, among people - especially taxi drivers, newspapers and street corner conversations. Everyone I have talked to knows about and has a firm opinion about the MST (and has a best friend’s cousin’s brother who is the president).

2. going to Presidente Prudente (about a days journey from SP city I think) to check out the MST archive.

3. The lovely immersion I had in Porto Alegre which set the scene somewhat: including specifically meeting with the staff of 2 NGOS directly allied with the MST and 2 academics.

I still want to write about power differentials, solidarity and critical reflection; within an activist milieu that defines itself by autonomy, de-centralisation, ethically just solidarity, non-violence, direct action, etc. And I’m wondering - can my research plan as it currently stands ask these questions for sufficient answers?

Within this, I guess it’s about keeping my focus on the global justice/global alliance question and not getting too concerned re: writing and researching the MST specifically. This is partly why I am leaning more towards Via Campesina as a more logical ultimate case study (using information I get from MST research) - as an organisation that is perhaps more broad-based (though perhaps less grassroots?), more ‘international’ and potentially more accessible?