Dear Mr. X,
My name is White-y White. I am a researcher/PhD student working on this subject. Although I cannot explain it very well, I assure you that it is absolutely vital to the the history of the world. So and so told me to contact you.
At any rate, I have a passing interest that developed recently and is probably fleeting at best in Egypt. Not really something specific – just a general interest in some topic that may or may not be related, provable, or relevant. It does not really matter because my topic is sexy and will likely land me my dream job one day.
My topic is how global political RADICAL Islam relates to the building of Coptic Churches in Egypt and its impact on the Arab-Israeli conflict regionally with respects to authoritarianism, the Sunni-Shia divide, NATO expansion and politics in general.
What I need from you is contacts that will facilitate my research. Now, I have read extensively and know what I am doing but I would just prefer it if you opened your contact address book and just import it to mine. It will really make my life much easier (which is really what I am all about). Plus, I won’t actually have to look at newspapers or books and find out who may or may not be interesting to speak with.
And, believe it or not, my non-Arabic speaking ass will be coming to Cairo for 4 days next month to establish my credibility in the academic “street”. I just love that street term – it makes me feel like Snoop Doggy Dog. Even though I will be there with all your contacts, I would not want to pass up a chance for you to open up your brain and tell me your thoughts on my subject so I can then go home and pass it off as my own research.
Thanks for your time. If there is anything else you can do for me – do not hesitate to contact me directly but please make sure its relevant. And please don’t contact me between 8-10pm on Tuesdays. American Idol is on and its my favorite show. But really anytime other than that, let me know what you come up with.
You are probably looking forward to meeting me. Well, relax because I am on my way. I look forward to you doing my research for me.
Peace Out,
White-y
White-y White
Really Important MF
University of Better than Harvard (which is, after all, just a small community college in Boston)
White-y_White@hotmail.com
I roll, positively roll, on the floor. Nice work, chaps.
At least I’m brown… =)
Well said 🙂
Oh, whatever. You guys are becomming like the record store clerks in High Fidelity — snobs!
By the way, I have this very important research project that I was wondering if you could…
Dude! Thanks for spelling it out!
[…] Thank you Issandr for spelling it out… […]
Love, Love, LOVE it!
does this mean if I come to Cairo, I can’t hang out with you…:-o I promise to do my own research…really!
I can relate to that because I do get contacted sometimes too. I do help out people who have a research project that show that they have done at leats some homework. I have actually shared my PhD bibliography with a couple of MA students and will probably end up citing them in my own work.
Newcomers to the field can be annoying but you have to ask yourself how did you get started yourself. I rather have somebody ask me for stuff than to have them get it from a Jihadwatch approved scholar. If they are obviously too fresh I just give them a couple of basic references.
I can understand though that Issandr, as a journalist, doesnt want to give away his adress book he has built through years of hard work. He makes a living out of it and doesnt want to compromise his relationship with his contacts.
What is interestring too is that it seems that egyptian officials and intellectuals (in particular those who speak foreign languages) see a lot of these inexperienced researchers and have a BS speech ready for them.
I love playing dumm when they give me the BS and then ask them the tricky question that make them feel a little bit like idiots after that the conversation usually gets much more interesting. So somehow these guys newbie are usefull 🙂
I feel bad now because I have actually asked Issandr for some infos in the past 🙂
Yes. but the two people who wrote on the MB in Foreign Affairs are newbies. They have no background in the study of the Middle East but they seem to have talked to a lot of people. is it ok then to come with good contacts but no knowledge?
I don’t think the question is so much of passing on contacts (which we all do, and we all get our contacts that way), but rather the very superficial version of “fieldwork” that results from folks wanting to take shortcuts and do tokenistic interviews, and pick the brains of local journos and researchers instead of doing any primary research themselves. Dilettantism, yaani, which can pass for expertise in contexts where knowledge of the Middle East is thin enough that a little name-dropping will take you far.
ROFLMAO
Ha! This is good. It is unfortunate that so many folks freeload in this way. I think about my own situation as a PhD student currently doing research in Egypt, and always hope that I will give those who help me the respect and acknowledgment that is due them. As an anthropologist it frustrates me that so many “scholars” spend a few days “in the field” and then pretend that they got a good sense of—in this case—Egyptian culture by talking (in fus7a) to their bawwab or smoking shisha at a cafe in Zamalek. But worse is the stealing of someone else’s idea and then calling it one’sown. I have a friend here in Cairo who was shocked to read the book of someone in the US that he helped and find that the dud had taken his ideas and pretended as if they were his own. But there are those of us who are careful to acknowledge the folks who help us and make it clear how they helped us. What Ragab says is important—we all need help when we get started and without the kindness of those who have gone before us it would be impossible for any of us to do anything worth the light of day.
I can respect what Ragab and Anthony are saying.
However, how can someone be expected to manage their job, own research or research-like work (interviewing etc.), family life, the chaos and crowds of Cairo, and briefing every single researcher, journalist, student, think-tank pundit, and diplomat who comes to Cairo.
I have never had a problem giving to the cause and helping people out. Personally, as someone who needs other people’s time to complete my own research, I see the donation of my time as creating good universalistic Karma.
But there is a limit to how many emails, coffees, and meetings one human can respond to a week asking for requests from people (who, at least, 75-percent of the time) have not done their own homework. And, remember, none of this is paid work…..Its generosity.
It is important to note that many times people show up with their projects and want “the expert” to figure of who they should talk to. A lot of professional research (grad school and beyond, NGO work, journalism) is primarily about making decisions….and making decisions requires thinking.
Read the books and read the newspapers. Even if you don’t speak Arabic, surely you could access al-Ahram Weekly or Hebdo. See who’s interesting and then come asking about the contact details of X and/or Y. Put simply, have a plan.
I’m happy to help and at your service. I am not happy to think for you.
Everyone needs help in the beginning. It’s when the beginning turns into your life and people present themselves needing information now.
There is no secret to successful research….. It’s reading, thinking, nuance, and time.
Without these things, you could meet Mubarak himself and not know what the hell is going on in Egypt.
I don’t see the point in harboring some ivory-tower ego about who you know and then keeping that confidential. It really makes those doing so no different from the Egyptian Government officials we so often criticize for their nepotism and connections. If sharing information is helping to better the welfare of people by publishing well needed research than what more do you want… a free lunch or vacation to Luxor for some numbers?
I think the issue, as stated before me, is more about the type of parachute ethnogoraphy and research some try to do by cutting corners as the easy way into the “native” experience, if researchers are even attempting that at best.
Share your contacts, but be mindful of the agendas and purposes of the people contacting you! But come on, get over yourselves. Students like myself really don’t need your blackbooks so much as you need our research!
“But come on, get over yourselves. Students like myself really don’t need your blackbooks so much as you need our research!”
The people being approached are academics too…and are among the kindest and most helpful people you’re likely to meet. Nobody “owes” anybody anything, however. Collegiality is a give-and-take process, and sharing information and research helps avoid replication, but expecting someone to spoonfeed you CliffNotes on everything and become your unpaid tutor+fixer is the other extreme and is sadly common. It also results in superficial, low-value research as people just go around repeating received wisdom.
Fair enough, Aya.
Publish it up!
We are waiting for you to enlighten us. You seem as if you are the one who needs to get over yourself.
Husayn and Anthony have a point. As someone who has been on both sides, it’s good karma to be of help, it’s bad karma to pick someone’s brain, skip town and pass it all off as your own brilliance. I owe a huge debt to my interviewees- some of which I will never be able to repay- but I forward things to those I can, try to pass on info that would be of use to them later on and acknowledge their presence. Do I always get acknowledged myself? No. I respond to that by being just a bit too busy the second time around…
Issandr’s post also made me think about the times that I’ve addressed a very broad question to a source–and now I know why I never heard back from them… It’s definitely a point well taken that if I expect someone to help me out, I better know what it is I’m talking about as well, and not go to them for broad background info. That’s what a library is for.
Joe,
I’m not sure if asking the broad questions is such a bad idea. Many journalists do the same thing and it can be a useful techniquie, if used properly, to get a sense of person’s perspective. Sometimes listening to the person’s narrative of a series of events gives you an interesting perspective of the ins and outs of a particular argument or position.
In my experience it’s not difficult to tell whether they are really engaged in the subject or simply going through the motions and hoping you’ll make life easy for them. Aaaargh! I’ve just sent the following email to a student in the US:
“I don’t want to sound unhelpful, but if you want me to suggest some contacts in Egypt I need to be persuaded that you are serious about this project. On the basis of the two emails you have sent me, I am not convinced. How much preparatory reading have you done? Have you actually read my book and the relevant Human Rights Watch report? What else have you read? “
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Students trying to get a research paper together are harmless, if I feel they ought to do some better footwork before bothering me, I tell them so but it is very rare, most have valid questions.
What is much worse is journalists and bloggers pretending they came up with the ideas they are discussing. In Egypt, it is all too common and that goes for English language reporters as well.
[…] to also mention an undergraduate essay a reader sent me about the MB along with a message about the “On Freeloaders” post from a few days ago. The essay was written by an Australian student who has never been to the Arab […]