Mchough's Anthropology In The Gurung People

“The anthropologist is a human instrument studying other human beings”. This quote can only be described as extremely relevant when reading McHugh’s ethnography, a detailed analysis on the Gurung people of Nepal. She involved herself emotionally, physically, and mentally during her stay, portraying what it’s like and what it takes to study other people from an outsider’s point of view. The relationships McHugh created throughout her stay deepened her understanding and paved the way for her fieldwork as she dived into the unknown.
The beginning of all bonds starts with a mother. Ernestine lacked a motherly figure back in the U.S, but was quickly ‘adopted’ by Lalita, a caring and highly influential woman among the Gurung people. Perhaps the absence of a mother back home caused her to form a stronger bond than usual with Lalita. Despite not being blood related, Lalita considered Ernestine to be her daughter almost immediately after meeting her, which symbolizes how the kinship system works among the Gurung people. McHugh was now associated by the public as someone who belonged to Lalita , giving Ernestine a favourable stepping stone when creating new connections. The care that Lalita and her family provided helped

Participation is also a crucial part of fieldwork, as it creates bonds and deepens the fieldwork through emotional involvement. McHugh managed to achieve the first two elements by participating and quietly observing, proving how necessary it is during fieldwork. She makes an exemplary effort to stick to the ethnographic commitments of an anthropologist, shown by how she embraces the different dress code and how she is eager to engage herself in the public activities. Fieldwork isn’t just about describing the details of people’s lives, but also analysing them to find out why people do the things that their culture has conditioned them to do