At 12:58 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012, we arrived at the local mosque of the Islamic Community of Bryan-College Station (ICBS), parked on the side of the building, and walked around to the front entrance. While we waited for our ICBS point of contact to arrive, we had a good chance to observe some of the features of the room we were in. It was relatively large room, large enough to seat 300-400 people, with a balcony on the second floor to accommodate an overflow of people from the first floor. The ground was carpeted and the only pieces of furniture other than the bench we were sitting on were four or five bookshelves scattered around the room, all of which had Korans on them. We had also not seen a single woman since arriving, either outside or inside the mosque.

[Name omitted] arrived and we shook hands. He grabbed a Koran from off of the bookshelf and brought it over to us at the bench in the back of the room and began to explain what we were about ti see, as well as a considerable amount of background information on the Islamic faith in general and the Friday prayer ceremony. When we asked if women came to the mosque, he explained that they pray separately from the men, in the room directly behind us which had tinted glass – floor-to-ceiling windows through which they could see the men and the service progress, but the men could not see them. He also said that the children pray with the women. He explained all this, particularly the fact that women are kept from the view of men during prayer services, by stating that Continue reading →

This post combines excerpts from a Field Note Report written by Adam Solomon, Audrey Roeder, and Josh Kelfer with a Guest Post by Adam Solomon. Before the end of the semester, Adam Solomon approached me to ask if he could write his blog post about the unintended consequences of conducting fieldwork with the very small Buddhist community in town. Although only two groups focused their projects on the Buddhist community, and each was required to receive written permission to do so from the organizer, I learned this semester that many other classes at Texas A&M are sending students to observe religious events in the community. 

As researchers, we always have to consider whether the potential benefits of our research outweigh the potential risks to the people and cultures we are researching. Some of the religious communities we have worked with have informed me that they are very happy with the benefits of this project, however, every situation is different. In this case, as Adam points out below, we do need to consider if the risks in fact are greater than the benefits. While Adam seemed apprehensive to broach the subject with me, I am incredibly proud of his concern regarding ethical fieldwork practices. 

Excerpt from Field Note Report: When Observers Outweigh Participants 

On Sunday, March 25^th, group ten had the pleasure of joining the Brazos Valley Buddhist Association for their weekly meditation session at the Unitarian Church. Although initial dialogue between the president revealed that members were apprehensive about allowing students to observe their service, we received an incredibly warm and gracious welcome from members upon arriving. In addition to four regular attendees, there were five students from another class and our group; totally twelve people […] The chants were monophonic Continue reading →