Research topic troubles

[MayaN]

Okay so I have the opportunity to do fieldwork for five months. I'm bringing my husband who's a filmmaker to make a documentary about the research I'll be doing. And the findings will go in my thesis.

I love the history of Bonaire and the fact that there are so many different ethnicities living there, that they are insular and yet a part of the Netherlands Antilles as well as the Netherlands itself. There are so many things I could be researching there but I'm stuck and can't think of anything. The problem is also I can't find many anthropological or sociological articles on the island to make a background for my research.

Anybody any ideas what so ever to push me in any direction? So it needs to be something which would also be visually interesting to film.

Thanks!

[rising_star]

Three things came to mind when I read this.

1) You don't have to read articles specifically on Bonaire to get background information. There are lots of books on the istory of the Caribbean, as well as various anthropological and sociological articles and books about individual islands and the region as a whole. I'm not sure if you've tapped into this but, it sounds from your post like you haven't.

2) What are you interested in? Make a list of the kinds of topics you'd be interested in doing research on and try to go from there.

3) Having someone make a documentary about your fieldwork presents all sorts of ethical questions for both you and your participants. Make sure you get IRB (institutional review board) approval for this before you do it. Also, keep in mind that it's kinda impossible to keep your research participants anonymous if you have them on film and think about the ethics of that. If they mention doing something that breaks the law or goes against the norm, having that on film could cause them to face legal or social repercussions.

 

Good luck!

[MayaN]

Thank you for your reply! It really opened my eyes to things I didn't think of at all. Thank you for that! I'll go through your list and see where I end up!