The name is absent

Appendix 1

manner while inviting my consultants to creatively examine the particular set of codes
and flows pertinent to my research question directly, and on the terms and the
environment with which they are familiar with. Other advantages MERIA has offered to
date include the ability to move around the field and apply the particular cross-section of
codes and flows MERIA represents at various sites (at, for example, other local
organizations and government offices) providing an immediate starting point for analysis
and basis for comparison. Finally the organization has also allowed me to experience
how particular codes and flows influence practice in the field, outside of partnerships
with other organizations, but in basic operations (interacting with private citizens, the
media, volunteers, and the like).

It should be repeated at this point that the advantage of a vehicle like MERIA
simply adds to standard field practice. Even though the data one collects through such a
device is pertinent to the analysis of all field phenomena, it cannot and in fact should not
replace standard field research methods, but rather be seen as supplementary to them.
Beyond increased access to information pertaining particularly to codes and flows,
however, MERIA has provided two notable additional benefits, ɪɪ

The knowledge generated through MERIA - that is, details regarding the presence
and functioning of particular codes and flows - helps the researcher to understand
morphogenic process, or simply, social (and other) change in the field. Some
anthropologists have reported difficulty seeing social change or the potential for change
while in the midst of conducting fieldwork (especially in complex locations like cities

*¹ These operate in addition to those advantages provided by other strategies practiced by fieldworkers currently,
explored most famously in terms of “embeddedness,” “investment in the field,” and “halfie” perspectives (Shweder
2000; Said 1978, 1983; Abu-Lughod 1991). Using a research device like MERIA simply enhances the research
conducted through traditional methods.

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