Challenges of field research on notions of childbirth among the matrilineal Khasis of Northeast India
Abstract
The Khasi tribe is one of the few societies in the world, which keep matrilineal custom alive even in the age of modernization and globalization. What does it mean for everyday life of Khasi women? What is the local perception of woman's body, reproductive cycle and what is the notion of childbirth and whole perinatal period? This article reflects methodology used during three moths long ethnographic fieldwork, which was conducted in two visits (2015 and 2016).
Main methods were qualitative non-formal in-depth interviews with mothers and traditional birth attendants, and participant observation. In this article I am going to address main challenges I faced during the fieldwork.
Specifically, I will discuss researchers' bias, technical complications, and lack of control in the field setting, particularly due to childbirth unpredictability and due to dependency on my hosts.