34.1116, Tales from Tanzania: Part 3

Tue Apr 4 23:05:03 UTC 2023

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-1116. Tue Apr 04 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.1116, Tales from Tanzania: Part 3

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Date: 05-Apr-2023
From: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon [luceroguillen at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Tales from Tanzania: Part 3

Editor's Note: This post about the research of our former editor, PhD
candidate, Jeremy Coburn.

Tales from Tanzania: Part 3
Beyond the Field Methods Classroom and handbooks
Jeremy Coburn, PhD candidate, Indiana University

Arriving at 7:00 AM sharp to the office of the Tanzania Commission for
Science and Technology (COSTECH), I sat waiting for the Director
General to enter the building. He did not know me, nor I him, but he
was my only hope to begin my research on time, else I must wait
another month for my research permission request to be evaluated. As
the Director General enters the building, he sees me sitting there,
eyes me suspiciously, and slowly begins climbing the stairs to his
office. I quickly search online for a picture of him to ascertain that
he is indeed the Director General. Once confirmed, I promptly stand
and begin to follow him up the stairs.

He hears me following behind and waits for me, undoubtedly curious why
a foreigner was sitting in the lobby and now chasing him up the
stairs. Speaking Swahili, I introduce myself and apologize profusely
for my unorthodox behavior and for bothering him early in the morning
without an appointment. He patiently listens to my (likely) jumbled,
poorly thought-out excuses as we enter his office.

My ambushing the Director General of COSTECH was not without good
reason. My dissertation research in Tanzania is funded by a
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) fellowship
administered through the U.S. Department of Education. My research
project was meant to start in March 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic
delayed my start date until December 2021. Although I had already
confirmed in 2020 with the Tanzania Commission for Science and
Technology that my research permission request had been granted, the
delayed start date meant that the request needed to be reevaluated. I
had already arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with my wife and two
children in December 2021 when I was informed that my request would go
to committee for a decision (again) on December 20. However, on
December 21, I received a call and was told that the committee meeting
had been postponed until January 20, 2022, because someone was out of
town.

Eager to begin my research (which had already been so delayed) and to
get out of the hustle and bustle of busy Dar es Salaam, I
exasperatedly asked my contact at COSTECH what I could do to expedite
the process. It was he who suggested trying to catch the Director
General early the next morning. I only had 10 months to conduct my
fieldwork in Tanzania and deeply feared losing even one more day.

Fortunately, the Director General of COSTECH is an understanding man,
took pity on me, and he was able to direct me through channels to
receive my research permissions within a day or two.

The field linguist may wear many hats, including linguist, diplomat,
employer, problem solver—even chef, navigator, and interpreter—among
many others. Even the best linguistics field methods courses or
fieldwork handbooks cannot prepare the field linguist for every
situation that they will encounter. Without being proactive, I would
probably still now be sitting in Dar es Salaam, waiting for my
research permissions to be approved. The field linguist must be
tenacious, undaunted by challenges that will undoubtedly come about.
Ironically, so much of our training in linguistics focuses on
theories, complex datasets, and tamed linguistic phenomena neatly
presented in textbooks and assignments. For the field linguist,
however, the language data is often the easiest part of the job. It is
dealing with the world—the messy, difficult, wild, unruly world—which
presents the greatest obstacles. I have yet to see a field methods
curriculum which can adequately prepare students for that aspect of
being a linguist.

This story was only the beginning of my “Tales from Tanzania.” Things
only became even more fun from there!

Jeremy Coburn
Ph.D. candidate
Indiana University

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