splendid ethics

In class on Monday we talked about ethics and how conscience we need to be of ethics when planning our research projects and how we're going to implement them in the field. I'm a little worried about how picky the IRB is going to be when reading my proposal, but I understand how critical it is that I don't go over to Uganda and do stupid things that are harmful or just not appropriate.

So applying this to my own project, I have been thinking about how careful I need to be about how I approach topics with the people I talk to and I need to always be soooo sensitive when talking to the people about their lives. I have decided to continue with my project idea of learning about the lives of the women I'll be with who make the beads for African Promise Foundation and maybe recording their stories for them to have, but more specifically finding out how working for the bead businesses have made an impact in their lives. I know that it's going to take a lot of thinking and talking to other people about the right way to go about talking to the women about their lives. I am going to take it real slowly and just develop relationships with the women by spending time with them, observing them and learning from them what they do. I will start to pick up on things about them just from observing them and meeting their children or things like that, but then hopefully after a while I will feel comfortable asking them questions about the difference in their lives from before making beads and after. I will definitely not be pushy and I'll be as sensitive as I can be to each person I talk to. There are so many NGOs that have the same idea of providing a bead industry for women in Africa and I just wonder how effective they are in making lasting improvements in the lives of the beaders.

Since what's appropriate in the US is different from what's appropriate or socially acceptable in Uganda, at least I'm assuming it is in at least a few ways, as soon as I get to Uganda I will need to be super super observant to try and catch on the right way to act and what not. I will also try to learn about how to act and what the different symbols are in the Ugandan culture from my brother and other resources before I go too because I think that's part of how to understand the culture better and how to be accepted.