Tanya Boyanova, is a student in SA 875: Ethnographic Methodologies: Graduate Seminar, taught by Dara Culhane. This assignment invited students to write a poem about preparing to begin an “Interview/Conversation” assignment.

“…the antropoeta …

…LISTENS and LISTENS

…UNTIL she …HEARS

… attending with PATIENCE and CARE”

… she knows “MEANING… is waiting TO BE FOUND.”

(Rosaldo, 2014, p. 107)

ON FINDING THE PERSON TO LISTEN TO

How do I find the person

who speaks in a foreign tongue

the language of images close to the heart,

the language of images close to the soul.

The language, the language,

The mother tongue.

How do I find the person

who speaks in a foreign language the mother tongue?

Reference

Rosaldo, Renato (2014)  “Notes on Poetry and Ethnography,” in The Day of Shelly’s Death: the poetry and ethnography of grief.”  Durham, NC:  Duke University Press, pp. 101 – 113.