3.3 Information gathering process with workforce/popular group
3.3.2 Identifying local contacts
analysis survey were quite different from what was ultimately expressed as we delved more deeply into the issue later on. This should become clearer in chapters four and five.
In general, information gathering within the local communities took a much different approach than that used when I talked with executives and expatriates. Most interactions were quite informal and we spent considerable time in people's homes, at church functions, and in the townships including their marketplaces and bars. Much of the best information came through conversations not conducted under obvious or heavy Western influences. This meant emphasizing the use of Copperbelt Bemba rather than English and, upon occasion, sending the research assistants into settings where it simply would not have been appropriate for a foreigner to go.18 My presence tended to be obtrusive at first but rarely unpleasantly so.
Over time and after repeated visits, it always seemed a success when those we talked with began using more Bemba than English and addressing each other or the research assistants rather than the principal researcher.
The ambivalent influence of Western Christianity also deserves mention here. It provided a common starting point, for instance, in that we were able to move with credibility into the townships using church connections rather than mining connections. But Christianity could also appear threatening. For example, there were a few times when overt references to it obviously changed the dynamics of conversations. One such instance is recorded in chapter five. I will never know the extent to which this affected the overall study but my research assistants and I made efforts not to pose our questions in relation to Christianity or to be perceived as offering judgments about informants' responses based on Western Christian interpretations. In other words, when people talked of witchcraft or the supernatural we did not "correct" them or allude to typical Western Christian attitudes about these subjects.
18 Bemba spoken in the Copperbelt Province differs from pure Bemba in that it contains a mixture of English and slang words in addition to the Bemba found principally in Luapula Province.
Still, we found that when we asked direct questions on spiritually related matters and phenomena typically unfamiliar in the West, such as witchcraft and the supernatural, we almost invariably got evasive answers. One of our principal local contacts, for example, exhibited a level of candor within his home that dissipated when with drinking buddies in the tavern. A folklorist introduced us to much traditional background in the following manner.
It is a pity that, you know, we have lost some traditionalism. Elizabeth, you may not believe, these things are there! For example, in Chingola, Kapisha.
There is that fountain—spring—that brings out hot water. Our mining engineers—white to be specific—our white men—they wanted to commercialize that kind of water or to domesticate it nicely. They wanted to put some pipes there such that it could be pumped in some homes, used as geezer water. Each time they put that, the pipes could burst. Each—up to now, they have failed. As the Chinese were putting this rail line, TAZARA, there is a place known as Katayi. You know balya bamulenga wampanga, ba Katayi, kulya kumusumba, kumusumba, [the spirits like the Mulengas1 of the Forest, the Katayis, those who reside in royal palaces] meaning some place like but with mysterious powers. They wanted to pass the rail line through that place. And the chiefs warned them but they couldn't believe. They were all bitten by black mambas and they all died. There were eleven of them.20
But when pressed by a zealous research assistant as to whether or not the folklorist himself believed, our informant replied that he did not.21 We had much better success asking people in small, casual settings to comment on what they had heard others say.
Discussions on spiritual matters and supernatural phenomena were, however, among those we most wanted to have so we made special attempts to audiotape this kind of talk.
When we could tape record conversations we asked permission. When tape recording was inappropriate, we sometimes jotted down notes but most frequently taped our own recollections and observations immediately following interviews.
19 The translator notes this refers to the Bemba deity.
20 Interview with Copperbelt folklorist and radio personality, 2004.
21 This same zealous assistant later said that our informants' admission in English was completely counter to the impression he created on a weekly vernacular language folklore radio program.
Conversations usually took place in a mixture of Copperbelt Bemba and English. A few interviews were conducted in Chokwe and Lamba. Taped conversations were transcribed and translated by my research assistants, then double-checked by mother tongue speakers of the vernacular languages who were also fluent in English.22 I have left their translations virtually intact even though some points do not conform to strict English grammatical usage. Upon occasion, we were able to return to the speakers and ask for clarification on certain points. This was not done as easily as with executives/managers, however, since work schedules, transport difficulties, lack of access to technology, and the generally fluid nature of Zambian life did not ensure we would ever see some participants again. The vernacular and translated conversations that appear throughout the text were taken from tape recordings; longer excerpts and additional conversations appear in the appendices.
Trying for further clarification of what we heard, towards the end of the fieldwork process, we produced a brief summary sheet of salient points. We took these to each of our local contacts and my research assistants explained the concepts in Bemba. Then, we either discussed them on the spot and in the vernacular as needed or left them along with paper, pencils, and self-addressed stamped envelopes for participants to write impressions in letters addressed to me.23 Copies of the feedback sheet and responses are in the appendices.
Zambian speakers also put themselves at considerable risk when talking with us, especially when they offered unfavorable opinions on government and corporate officials.
22 Exceptions are the Lamba translations. These were translated and/or checked by a mother tongue Bemba speaker who also speaks Lamba. The two languages are closely enough related that my research assistants could ask questions in Copperbelt Bemba and informants could answer in Lamba.
13 We encouraged participants to write in Bemba if they wanted to, assuring them that this could be translated.
We were aware than written communication of this sort was a less than perfect way to get feedback, but felt it was worth attempting.
For these reasons, the names used in this study for my research assistants and principal local contacts are not their own.