It's suddenly more than halfway through my fieldwork, and I'm starting to wish I had at least a month more in Ethiopia. The interviews I've had were fairly interesting, though sometimes also rather predictable. I'm starting to wonder if I'm too confrontational or journalistic in my interviews in that I tend to put forward interpretations of events that I know would not sit well with my interviewees, just to see how they would react. I'm not sure that's an advisable tactic, and to be honest, to call it a tactic is exaggerating the amount of forethought that went into it. When it comes right down to it, when I'm being serious about something I'm pretty confrontational. The archival work has only just started, and I'm only starting to realise how much there is to look through. On Monday when I hit the archives again, I'm bringing my camera. I'm going to have so much stuff to go through, I've no idea whether I have enough time.
It's a Saturday, and I did ponder for hours the merits of travelling out of my room. But I've got work to do, and the sky is grey, and I've been running around the past few days, and it just happens the internet is working for now (sshhh, don't startle it!). Plus I'm a lazy ass traveller. Some of you might know this already.
Anyway, this week I've been spending more time in the considerably more rarefied atmosphere of the UNECA building and the AU compound. Within those little pockets of cosmopolitanism, there's less harrassment, though I still often get the 'Are you Japanese?' But at least it's not shouted at me from across the street as a part-question, part-greeting, part-jeer, part-call for attention. (Incidentally, though I've going on about all these people shouting at me, at times it's rather more benign. Couple of days ago, two girls shouted at me 'Hey China!' and when I turned around to look at them they started giggling and ran away. Annoying, but didn't feel particularly threatening.)
In these compounds I also met people who spoke with an American accent, and at first I thought they might be African Americans, but turns out the rich kids here go to these schools where they pick up an American accent. Figures.
It's also slightly annoying that people here don't usually reply to emails, and you can't get to talk to them unless you actually turn up on their doorstep. Yes, that makes the fieldwork so much easier.
So. Saturday, lots of thoughts about going out, gave in to inertia, and now I need to start working.
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