First round of UP fieldwork
A short account of Komal Chauhan’s fieldwork in India from February to June 2024.
I conducted fieldwork in rural North India from February to June 2024. As I had not predetermined a specific fieldsite, my initial task was to identify a location that aligned with the project’s criteria. Consequently, the first few days were dedicated to finding a suitable site. I benefited from discussions with local NGOs working in the region and leveraged my prior contacts. After visiting several villages, I was able to select one for the study. This village comprised approximately 150 households, representing a mix of almost five different caste groups.
While I am proficient in Hindi, the local dialect, Braj, posed some challenges to my comprehension. Therefore, I needed research assistants fluent in the dialect, who could also support the structured data collection process. I recruited two assistants, Mr. Aditya Sengar and Mr. Arvind Kumar, both of whom had prior experience conducting surveys with local NGOs and showed ethical and sensitive engagement with research participants.
The structured data collection involved gathering information on kinship, demographics, and wealth. Given the sensitive nature of wealth data, I began by collecting kinship data and gradually incorporated demographic and wealth data into the process. To ensure I engaged with every household, I personally collected the kinship data for each household, while delegating the demographic and wealth data collection to my research assistants. This approach not only allowed me to gain visibility within the village but also helped establish rapport with the community.
In addition to the structured data collection, the qualitative data collection involved conducting approximately 13 interviews on topics such as reputation, gossip, debt and credit relations, and agricultural land market in the village. Through general participant observation, I also gained valuable insights into the village’s caste dynamics and the mechanisms through which caste-based exploitation occurs.