To All The Words I Said (or Didn’t Say and Should’ve Said)
“We’re going out to the field on Thursday.”
The field. That mysterious place in the netherworld that global health practitioners often talk about when they really mean, “I’m not in the office.” I’ve only been working my first full-time job here in Rwanda for several months now and I hear the term “the field” come up all the time.
History of Fieldwork
I started to wonder, what exactly is this field that everyone keeps referring to? Thanks to reasonably trusty Wikipedia, here’s a definition and a little bit of history about how the term “fieldwork” came to be:
“Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting.”
While the exact beginnings of field research aren’t entirely known, records by cultural anthropologists and other social scientists are among the first evidence to indicate its existence. They used field research to study cultures and defined “the field” as any area that is the subject of their research. This means that fields could be anything — from a literal field to education to the rain forest.
Over time, people from different disciplines have adopted fieldwork to further knowledge in their particular areas or fields of study. Jane Goodall conducted extensive fieldwork in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to study chimpanzees while Alan Lomax, an ethnomusicologist, traveled through Michigan and Wisconsin to record traditional folk music in the region. The subject of their work is vastly different but both are considered to be “fieldwork.”
The Problem in Global Health
So why, you might be wondering, am I even talking about fieldwork? Let’s be honest, it’s not exactly the most interesting topic especially with respect to all the other aspects of my global health career and Rwanda life.
I’m talking about “the field” because it’s perpetuating the stereotype that the subjects of global health work are primitive, second-class individuals and communities. We’ve already seen that “the field” means very different things to different people. Alan Lomax wouldn’t consider Gombe to be his field, just as Jane Goodall would have difficulty conducting her fieldwork in the neighborhoods and cornfields of the Midwest. For me in global health, “the field” generally means patient and health clinic visits.
But what does it mean for you — especially those of you who aren’t in the global health space and/or are from the U.S. or another Western country? When you think of the term “the field” just as a term in and of itself, as well as in the context of global health, what comes to mind?
Maybe that? ⤴
Maybe these? ↕️
What we say matters — a lot.
I recently participated in a professional development workshop for crafting and delivering two-minute “elevator pitches” (Thanks, Jess Mack!). Amongst all the lessons I learned in the hour-long session, there was one in particular that stood out to me: each word you choose to include in your pitch has a specific purpose in conveying your work, your values, and the type of person that you are. For example, selecting the word “freelance” over “independent” not only describes the experience of being self-employed but it conveys the sense of dedication and drive that it often takes to become a successful freelancer.
This same concept is easily transferrable to our discussion of terminology within global health. The choice to use the terms “hospital” or “health center” over “field” provides a necessary and often appreciated level of specificity that requires minimal additional effort. It paints a different picture in peoples’ minds and likely one that more people can relate to. Being intentional about using concrete details and terminology leaves little room for misinterpretation and breaks down existing stereotypes that would otherwise be furthered. In this case, most everyone has been to a hospital at some point in their lives and has certain ideas of what a hospital looks like. Doctors and nurses, hospital beds, and medical equipment first come to mind for me. On the other side, most people also have pre-existing ideas of what a field looks like. Using “field” to illustrate a place that has been depicted time-and-time again by the media exclusively as the setting for mass poverty and genocide can liken this beautiful country and its amazing people to farm animals grazing in an open green space.
Be thoughtful, be intentional, and be aware.
We can do so much better and we should. Our words matter, especially when we’re speaking about marginalized people and environments from a position of power. I am also not an expert at this nor am I claiming to be. I can pinpoint several conversations with family, friends, and colleagues during which I’ve slipped up and talked about the work that I’m doing in the “field.”
As a newbie to being an expat working in this area, there is still a lot that I am learning about myself and the space that I take up in an environment in which I have extreme privilege. On many occasions, I’ve thought that I can give myself a break because I encounter a lot of people in the same line of work using the same kind of terminology, but just because that’s the way it has been and currently is doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s time to be more aware and hold each other accountable for the role and impact of our words on the people we claim to be helping.
Gratiana Fu is a 2018–2019 Global Health Corps (GHC) fellow at Team Heart in Rwanda.
Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.
