questions about field studies

[xxtraloud]

so I'm just curious as to when field studies happen in social sciences, particularly in geography, anthropology, sociology, I see some professors are involved in research in Antarctica or some remote areas or of course outside of the US. I'm wondering what time of the year they go away, does this happen during the summer, or during the school year? Does that mean that they don't really teach any classes for a semester or two?how often does that happen?

As I'm considering a career as a professor in one of these fields I would like to understand these dynamics, I like the idea of field work in another country but probably not for 3-6 months every time, as I would like to be with my family most of the time. I am mainly looking into environmental anthropology

I would like to hear some insiders on this topic.

[anthropologygeek]

Fields schools are generally done during summer may thru Sept. They are generally no more than a month but sometimes shorter or longer. Profs due them to recoup some of the expenses for their research like visa's and permits. Profs must always be doing research and publishing until at a min their tenure. Look at schools websites to find them

[CultureOfIdeas]

A lot of my colleagues and faculty spend a fair amount of time in the summers returning to the field, some go during the year, it really depends. In anthropology, at least socio-cultural, relationships with interlocutors during ethnographic projects often last a long time, and many times faculty will have an ongoing attachment to and relationship with the areas they study, so they may go back annually, semi-annually, biannually, it totally depends. Doctoral students (again, just speaking for socio-cultural) often spend extensive time in their field-site, often more than a tenure-track faculty member could afford to (years on end in some cases, depending on the situation).

[samjones]

as echo to what's been said, people will go out into the field whenever they can. if it's during the school year, you just take a sabbatical for the year and go do what you need to do.

field schools will have to be researched individually to see when they take out their students. i don't think anyone here can say without a doubt that all field schools let their students go out into the field only in the summer. also, students usually only take classes for the first two or three years of a PhD program and there isn't much work in the field for them (mostly because the classes are supposed to prepare them for the field). after the years of coursework, students usually have two or three more years of funded time left and they should use it to go out into the field and write their dissertation. i mean, that's a loose idea of how it works. it's not cut and dry.

[xxtraloud]

thanks guys, now I have have somewhat of a better pic. I also emailed some grad students and they pretty much said what has been mentioned here.

now the other thing that puzzles me. how do people choose a remote area for their research interest? is it because they traveled there once or twice and fell in love with it? Or just because they read about it? I have seen some pretty random and specific locations in some anthro research, like some small island off the coast of australia or some remote chinese village. What are the main reasons that lead someone to pick such a specific place?

[anthropologygeek]

Profs chose sites base on interest, being asked to join a group, or because that's whats their advisor did.

When people chose their interest, its based on that's what their interested in or a prof studies a specific area of interest and you develop your craft with an area and you stay there.