ABSTRACT
Some experienced field researchers suggest, with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, that fieldwork is one part intellectual exploration and ten parts daily maintenance. Even in the security of your home university, you inevitably spend far more time handling administrative details, financial matters, minor and major crises concerning computers, cell phones or other equipment, and personal and familial arrangements than is anticipated or desired. When displaced to a foreign culture, the non-academic demands on time multiply. More rudimentary communications and transportation infrastructure, unfamiliar legal and administrative procedures, and the challenges of working in a foreign language often seem to rob overseas field researchers of the time they need to get on with the study. But do not despair; these experiences are part of what makes overseas research so rich. Logistical hiccups are a universal experience for which the best advice is to be flexible and patient. However, knowing how others have handled common problems and with what results may be helpful to your and your project’s daily maintenance.
