Fieldwork in Malaysia – by Izabela Stacewicz

My research explores the governance of land and labour rights issues in the palm oil industry, and I’m currently in the first phase of my fieldwork in Malaysia.  One week in, this trip has already opened my eyes and ears to many other perspectives.

High-level discussions on sustainable palm oil

High-level discussions on sustainable palm oil

The trip started with a four-day conference on sustainable palm oil, during which I needed to network with potential contacts relevant for my research.  I was nervous about putting myself on the line like that, but the response was encouraging, and practically everyone I approached was eager (or at least willing) to help.  I have been able to conduct several in-depth interviews, which have been highly valuable for my research.  Faith in humanity restored! My personal lesson is that it’s good to get outside my comfort zone.  After a year of sitting at my desk reading literature and considering various theories, I feel that my work is now coming to life – and that’s incredibly energising.

These interviews, and the dozens of other conversations with those working in this field, really motivate and inspire me.  But it’s also the informal conversations and observations that add other dimensions to this learning experience: the chat with the taxi driver about how palm oil saved his family from poverty, the scale and pace of consumption in the local shopping centre (with its very own indoor theme park),and the bemused look I receive when I explain why I’m here, and that I’m travelling alone.

 

Theme park in Berjaya Times Square

Theme park in Berjaya Times Square

Then in the evenings, my family in the UK are starting to get up, so I can talk to them from my hotel room.  I write up my transcripts, and contact more people for my research as it starts to take a snowball effect.  I’ve made a few new Malaysian friends from the conference this week, and I have had dinner with them a couple of times.  They have been so kind and welcoming, and are (or at least pretend to be) interested when I won’t stop talking about my research.

Even though it’s exhausting, sleeping during fieldwork is a struggle: it’s a mixture of jetlag and being so far from home, as well as intense excitement about my work, and a healthy dose of nervousness.  There are many thoughts running through my mind of what I’ve done, the conversations I’ve had, what I need to do, and how I will need to connect everything to construct something coherent by the end.  For now though, even though I’m not in a field covered in mud, it’s messy…and I’m excited about everything to come.

A bit about today’s blogger: Izabela Stacewicz is a PhD student at the University of Reading examining the governance of land and labour rights issues in the palm oil industry in Malaysia and Indonesia.  Izabela is supervised by Dr Chukwumerije Okereke and Professor Emily Boyd.  Izabela is also a member of the SAGES Gender and Fieldwork Steering Group

 

TrowelBlazers – a celebration

While discussing our blog many people have also told us about TrowelBlazers – http://trowelblazers.com/

TrowelBlazers is written by Brenna Hasset, Victoria Herridge, Suzanne Pilaar Birch and Rebecca Wragg Sykes, and is a ‘celebration of women archaeologists, palaeontologists and geologists who have been doing awesome work for far longer, and in far greater numbers, than most people realise.’

Two of our very own TrowelBlazers who have recently featured on our blog are pictured below

Me multitasking. Maximising time

Macarena Cardenas multitasking in the field

Amanda Clarke, our very own trowelblazer

Amanda Clarke, another of our very own trowelblazers

 

Trowelblazing Part 2: A career in the field – Amanda Clarke

Glass half empty? Fieldwork is uncomfortable – let’s be honest about it. We are usually stuck in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere – nothing convenient about that. And talking of convenient – one of the first tasks I ALWAYS do, regardless of whether on a 2-day geophysics escapade or a 6-month road scheme, is to work out the toilet arrangements. That may sound trivial – but believe me to women on fieldwork – and probably some men too – the proximity of the nearest convenience is what it is all about! clarke1And then there is the weather……a never ending topic of conversation in any site hut. But the weather IS all important…too much of it and you are destined to sit in a pool of mud for days on end, vainly searching for context differences; not enough and you are consigned to digging soil set like concrete whilst vainly trying to keep the sun off your neck and the back of your knees. My most dreaded and unlooked for Silchester experience was planning what to do with 130 people during a rainy day….25 people sent to work on Finds, 10 people to the Science hut, 15 people to work on site records – that still leaves over 60 people thumb twiddling in a leaking marquee. Other fieldwork challenges: earwigs in tea and tent; learning to live with the feeling that you are actually sharing your one-person tent with 78 other people (who all snore), never finding anything in ‘your’ patch on site, and a dawning comprehension that there are at least a dozen different ways to effectively remove dirt.

 

And from our foreign correspondent I love that moment when you step off a ‘plane into a new culture, a new environment – a new archaeology. Never let the fact that you may not be familiar with the material culture and archaeology and history of (say) Belize stop you! I believe that once you have been (properly) taught the basics of excavation and recording (as we do at Silchester) – then the world is literally your archaeological oyster. You can dig anywhere – and see the world. And this is what I did – Lebanon, Central America, St. Kilda, Minorca, Jamaica. Setting up Field Schools – and working – abroad can be exceptionally challenging. It can take a while to find your routine and to become comfortable enough in the new environment to enjoy the archaeology. It is hard to experience the thrill of archaeological discovery for example when working amongst the worlds’ deadliest snakes. I once spent 2 weeks being observed on a daily basis by a python in a tree overhanging the trench – an experience which concentrated the mind beautifully. Luckily it had just eaten. Showering in a jungle with my boots on to avoid scorpions and baby snakes can also temper enjoyment. But, the archaeological excitement will and can balance out any negativity, and without a doubt the best field archaeologists I have ever encountered have been the local workmen who can disentangle stratigraphy with their teeth and create a work of art out of a trowelled surface.

 

clarke2Team Silchester The success of the Silchester Field School is based on team and community spirit. People just seemed to love it. I pride myself on the quality of teaching we delivered, and also on our high standard of excavation and recording, regardless of external time pressures. My supervisors were amongst the best in the world; and most of them started their adult lives as students at the Department of Archaeology at Reading, and subsequently at the Silchester Field School. It is a legacy to be proud of. However I cannot claim any credit for the juggernaut that is the Field School – I simply facilitated it each and every year. The head of successful steam was entirely built up by people who loved it, benefited from it personally and professionally, spread the word, and wanted to return year after year. Every dig has its fans of course, but an 18 year excavation inspires a special kind of devotion.

 

The Transformers And the Field School did literally change the lives of many people. Some of my most inspiring – and humbling – moments have been watching tentative, socially fragile students develop from pale, shrinking mud-averse undergraduates to confident, tanned, trowel-wielding individuals who build up social networks they will retain forever, and develop a rainbow of skills which will carry them through life. Not bad for a hole in the ground!

 

Blank Page In my book, fieldwork is the beginning of it all – that first tentative clarke3sentence of a whole chapter of new research, the beginnings of a love of all things outdoors, the start of diverse skills and adventures. Nothing can ever quite match the excitement of uncovering a swirl of gravel, bounded by linear ditches, which turns out to be part of a hitherto unknown and only guessed at Iron Age street layout – its discovery giving a tantalising glimpse into the organisation of a long ago way of life. Fieldwork is the very first booted steps which will echo down the centuries – and how many things can you say that about? Many archaeology books published pay homage to that very first day of putting the boot in, putting the trowel in…..lifting the turf on Day 1 may allow a glimpse 10 years hence to a 5* publication hot off the press. It’s a wonderful motivator!

 

Bullseye Fclarke4ieldwork is a darts board of possibilities. A big project like Silchester has room for everyone. The most important people on any project are by no means the Directors….no, it is all about the people who dig, who uncover, who wash and scrub the artefacts, who fill bag after bag of soil, who stand with their hands in cold water day in and day out, microscopically tweezering out evidence for past lives, who communicate daily discoveries to our visitors (one of the huge successes of our Field School). But fieldwork also celebrates the (possibly) less glamorous jobs…..the site manager who picks up the litter, rescues crisp packets from food recycling bins, recovers lost mobile phones from the innards of portaloos, drives the vehicles, looks after the stores and equipment….the cook who sweats over a hot portakabin to produce meals which don’t touch the sides on the way down, and are never enough…..the project assistant who lovingly crafts the spaghetti junction lists and rotas for who does what day in, day out. A dig is a kaleidoscope of opportunities.

 

clarke5(Earth) Worm wisdom And if I can leave prospective fieldworkers with some advice? Firstly, just because you are in a field in the middle of nowhere does not mean that style goes out of the window along with personal hygiene. Secondly, wear layers, cherish your waterproof trousers and always have a clear sight of the portaloos. Thirdly, remember that all fieldworkers are an equal and important part of the project and always make time for everyone. And smile. And fourthly and finally – remember – it’s just a dig. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

 

clarke6

 

Why It’s Crucial to Get More Women Into Science

Macarena Cardenas, a PDRA in Geography and Environmental Science, highlighted this article written by Marguerite Del Giudice for National Geographic, published on the 7th November 2014:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141107-gender-studies-women-scientific-research-feminist/

‘Amid growing signs that gender bias has affected research outcomes and damaged women’s health, there’s a new push to make science more relevant to them. Why are there still so few women in science, and how might that affect what we learn from research?’

 

The blond girl studying apes," was how a National Geographic editor once referred to primatologist Jane Goodall. That "girl" went on to become world famous for her meticulous field studies of chimpanzees. Photograph by Michael Nichols, National Geographic Creative

The blond girl studying apes,” was how a National Geographic editor once referred to primatologist Jane Goodall. That “girl” went on to become world famous for her meticulous field studies of chimpanzees.
Photograph by Michael Nichols, National Geographic Creative

 

 

 

Trowelblazing Part 1: A career in the field

Amanda Clarke, our very own trowelblazer

Amanda Clarke, our very own trowelblazer

The Final Context How very rare it is to have the satisfaction of starting something…and then finishing it! I have worked on countless excavations since I began my fieldwork career…many I joined half way through, some I left half way through. Each was memorable in their distinctive way – but nothing quite matches up to my experience on the Silchester Field School. I began this in June 1997 with a JCB and a handful of excavators – and I finished 18 summers later in August 2014, with 130 excavators, a fleet of JCBs and dumpers, a barn full of finds and samples, 16,303 units of stratigraphy recorded – and a tearful Professor. What kind of journey has it been? (scroll down for some photos!)

Childhood ambition? I have always loved being in the field, and my job as Director of the Silchester Field School at the University of Reading has allowed me to combine this passion with a desire to teach the few things I know, and the chance to develop my managerial and organisational skills in ways I never dreamed possible….

Trowelblazing As a woman in fieldwork I have always taken the attitude that there is nothing I cannot do. My early days in commercial archaeology toughened me up quickly – leading an archaeological watching brief on the site of a multi-million pound multi-storey car-park on a cold December morning in the middle of York, surrounded by a team of hardened contractors intent on getting their job done – was a baptism of fire indeed. Women in site supervisory positions were a rarity in the 1990’s when I was leading teams…..there were women running the finds hut, the environmental aspects, the drawing office ….but outside in the crisp York air I was in a male dominated environment. I have always fought against any kind of ‘gender divide’ on my project teams – but that division does still cast a shadow. Sadly it is a self-perpetuating stereotype….trench work is often seen as ‘physical,’ mattock-wielding, trowel twirling work, whereas finds are all about housekeeping ‘pretty things’….still. 18 years of running the Silchester Field School gave me the opportunity to challenge these preconceptions and actually do something about them. And now that I have just finished running the biggest, boldest, brightest excavation on and in British soil (no bias showing here) – I am pleased to say I feel the scales tipping. In the final Silchester season 58% of participants were women, the majority of my Silchester Supervisors have been women, and the Department has an excellent track record of our female graduates working in commercial archaeology. It’s a good feeling.

Team Tactics Running the Silchester Field School has never been hard for me. Yes of course it is challenging in terms of sheer numbers of hours in the field, and on some of those days when nothing goes right…..the portaloo emptying lorry is stuck in the mud, half the students have a crippling summer cold, the site wifi has dissipated, a dozen tents have blown over, the pump for draining the water from a well under excavation has choked and stopped, 125 unbooked in visitors have arrived for a tour, I can’t find my coffee mug and context 14725 is not where I would like it to be stratigraphically…..But I instinctively know how to make it all work…..it is simply about the teams and the working environment you create. And the rest just follows. The archaeology may be a repetitive mix of wafer thin gravel layers – but it is still possible to teach and learn, to inspire and aspire.

Opportunity Knocks I love digging, I love excavations – wherever and whatever they may be – and my desire to communicate this passion can verge on the intimidating! I believe that attending an excavation is a life-altering experience – and everyone should try it at least once. My goal is to demonstrate that regardless of age, gender, skill, ability, aptitude, there are many many different experiences and opportunities an excavation can offer – something for everyone. Never think ‘I can’t’ – always think ‘how can I’.

 

Last day on the Silchester site

The final Silchester site tour

Challenge Amanda!

Challenge Amanda!

Some of our other trowelblazers!

Some of our other trowelblazers!

The Silchester Field School campsite

The Silchester Field School campsite

Working as a team: celebrating 10 seasons on site

Working as a team: celebrating 10 seasons on site

More to come from Amanda next week in Part 2!

Field archaeologist and trowelblazer!

Field archaeologist and trowelblazer!

A bit about today’s blogger: Amanda Clarke is a field archaeologist appointed by Reading University to help train its students in all aspects of field archaeology. She is Site Director for the Department of Archaeologys training excavation at the Roman town of Silchester, and for fieldwork in Pompeii, Italy. When not in the field she is involved in the post-excavation work for these projects. She has spent many years in the field, on sites all over the world including Norway, Beirut, Jamaica, Belize and the northern and western isles of Scotland. She has worked most recently for York Archaeological Trust on many of their large urban sites, as well as directing two seasons of work on the early Christian site of Whithorn in Galloway. She also works as a Teaching Fellow for the Department of Archaeology at Boston University on the student training excavations in Belize, Central America.

 

Field Work and Empowerment by Macarena Cardenas

Another amazing field trip site. Cosanga area (1,800 m.a.s.l.), Western Amazonia, Ecuador

Another amazing field trip site. Cosanga area (1,800 m.a.s.l.), Western Amazonia, Ecuador

As a Palaeoecologist and coming from a Biology and Botany background I have spent a good period of time in the field. My fieldtrips would usually be in remote areas with extreme weather, camping, with no water supply, doing hard muscular work, lifting and carrying heavy material and I have always, so far, been the only woman in the team.

I never even thought about differences amongst the gender in the field until now. I think this may be due to two main reasons:

  1. I have always been treated as an equal; and
  2. I always push myself to do as much as I can (no more, no less).

The former means doing loads of muscular work, like carrying 50kg bags uphill (and let’s say that I am not really a weightlifting type of girl; I am more the yoga-lover type really), working in rather cold (when working with snow) or hot (working at 40ºC) conditions if it needed to be, and as dirty (camping and with no running water for two weeks, which means, ehem… not showering for that long) as you can possibly be. Same as everyone in my team, asking about especial comfort was out of the question. When you work with limited resources, you just do what you can without complaining. In this sense I am kind of thankful, because I have learned and achieved a lot in the field, not just for science sake, but for me too. But don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that field work has to be hard; what I want to highlight here is: equality.

Highlands of Ecuador (4,000m.a.s.l)

Highlands of Ecuador (4,000m.a.s.l)

The latter reason, for which I never thought about differences, pushing myself to do the best I can, means to me that there is no limit, no limit to grow. There is so much you can do, and of course, the more experience and self-belief, the more you achieve. For example, the field in which we had to carry 50 kg bags (that is just as much as my body weight!) with pieces of kit. That task was more that muscle strength. Let me tell you a little bit about that experience. That was in a fieldtrip to highlands in Ecuador. We were at around 4,000 meters of elevation, which means that every step was already a difficult task. At that altitude there is so little oxygen available, that you think you have just come out of a building in fire, and that it doesn’t matter how deep you inhale, there is no oxygen to breathe! We were at this protected area in the high Andes, and we were left by the reserve guards at the bottom of the hill. No cars could come up… and we needed to go to the top for collecting the samples. We didn’t know that, we didn’t expect we wouldn’t have a lift by car up there. It was three of us, two men and myself. What do you do? Not carrying out that part of the field was out of the question.

My supportive team doing sediment coring in western Amazonia, Ecuador (2,000 m.a.s.l.)

My supportive team doing sediment coring in western Amazonia, Ecuador (2,000 m.a.s.l.)

So what do you do?… you go for it! We needed to be uphill before the night came (you wouldn’t risk walking on a cliff with 50kg bags in your back, would you?). My team expected me to do the same, they trusted I could do it (we didn’t have an alternative really). So we did it. Every time I took a bag from the bottom to bring it up I felt that was the most difficult and painful part of the field (and I was wrong… but that’s another story) and that I was glad we needed to do that only once. But magically enough I had the strength to do it every time, and not just that, but I kept up with the speed of my male colleagues. Later on, one of my colleagues told me he was impressed in seeing how such a little thing (a.k.a. me) could do that.

What I have learned from those and many other experiences is that I always find the way to go through whatever is needed in the field, and in life. I believe the way you see things and carry out your field trip says a lot about what you expect from yourself in life (which may be a lot more pleasant as well when you do have showers). Did you think about it in that way before? Think about a previous experience in the field (if you have had one, or maybe when you went camping, or for a day trip), did you believe you could do it? If yes, that is great; keep doing it! If not, what can you learn from that trip that may prepare you, empower you for the next one?

Me multitasking. Maximising time

Me multitasking. Maximising time

I believe field trips are empowering, you do it for yourself and for others. I wonder about the impact I have in other people when I am in the field, do I support and encourage others as much as I like to be supported and encouraged?

Field work is for me not just collecting data or material, it is also about personal achievement, learning from nature and from and with others, it is working as a team (even if it’s just two people), it is growing as a social and empathetic person. Sometimes I think fieldtrips may not happen often enough. I like to make the most of it every time.

 

Macarena_Lucia_Cardenas__wA bit about today’s blogger: Dr Macarena Cardenas first started working in Palaeoecology during her research in her BSc (Hons) and she has been working in this area ever since. Macarena’s previous research has focused in understanding climatic events/change and human impact in Central and Southern Patagonia and on Hyper-diverse Amazonian Ecosystems. Her research is based upon high resolution and multi proxy approach using modern analogues and studying fossil material from profile, bogs and lake sediments. Macarena’s current research, ‘Je Old Landscapes of Southern Brazil’ is focused on understanding the creation and transformation of southern east Brazil landscapes and their relationship with the emergence of social complexity during the past two millennia. This is an interdisciplinary project that integrates archaeology, ethnography and palaeoecology. Specifically Macarena is looking at the relationship between Je groups and the transformation of the landscape, understanding their organisational regional scale in different ecological zones and their role in the expansion of Araucaria pine forest. You can follow Macarena on Twitter.

 

Research Institutions and Athena Swan

British Geological Survey Environmental Science Centre Image: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/contacts/sites/keyworth/home.html

British Geological Survey
Environmental Science Centre Image: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/contacts/sites/keyworth/home.html

 

Did you know that Research Institutions can also apply to join the Equality Challenge Unit’s Athena Swan Charter?  In April 2014 the British Geological Survey achieved a Bronze Award

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/contacts/people/athenaSwan.html

Professor John Ludden, executive Director of the British Geological Survey says

“BGS is very pleased to have been awarded with the Athena Swan Bronze award. This will provide an added impetus to BGS to enhance its programmes in diversity in employment in working towards a silver award in the future”