ABSTRACT
Working within the community as a Japanese American, the author tried to follow the practices of social grace as much as possible, within the constraints of a limited graduate student budget. Conducting oral history interviews to the three generations of men and women raised many questions about feminist operating principles in the field. Interviewing three generations of men and women raised many questions about feminist operating principles in the field. The process provided rich, sometimes humbling, insights into cultural and generational assumptions and necessitated frequent reassessment of the author's relations with individuals and the larger community. The author focuses particularly on the issue of control in interviewing and on consideration of "insider/outsider" dynamics. Doing research in the Cortez community taught valuable lessons to the author. It gave her chance to experience and observes the multiple layers of affiliation and difference that create insider/outsider identifications, and showed her how they vary according to context.
