April 8

I've been reading Black Like Me. The author, Griffin, relays his stories about when he changed his appearance to look Black and lived in the south. His methods include interviews and participant observation in order to gather data and share what it would be like to be Black. Many questions arise as to how legitimate and objective his methods are and how reliable his data is. How much of his writings can we pass off as actual data that we can use as information on what it was really like to be Black? How much of his methods were actually ethical?
His novel begins with how he made himself appear to be black, and I hesitate to say that he actually turned Black; many might say that this novel is about when Mr. Griffin “turned’ black. However, I disagree with that terminology and will argue that while he only changed his appearance to appear to be Black, he did not actually become Black. While he experienced what it was like to be treated as a Black man, he could never actually know what it was really like to BE a Black man. His visage of a Black man was one that he could take off, and especially during the last part of the experience, when he changed from Black to White whenever it was convenient for him.
As for ethics, he did admit that he was actually a white professor whenever someone was suspicious, however he only does this once or twice throughout his 6 weeks. Most people he talked to were being deceived into sharing things with this white man that they probably wouldn't have shared otherwise. In reality, his project would definitely not be IRB approved. But, that's not to say that what he did wasn't helpful for the humanities, in that his story gives people a tiny glimpse of what it was like to be black in the 50s. As for his data, I would say that although its a good story but maybe not scientifically or academically rigorous.
As for my research, I'll be living among these women who might look a little like me, but I will always be a foreigner in the way that I look at them and research about them. I will try to fit in and immerse myself in the culture and customs, however I think that from an objective point of view, like the outsider, but still on the inside (through participating and observing) is a good perspective to have for research, in that you can be objective and you're not too involved to the point that you can't interpret and bring back scientific data.