65° - 01.11.1969, Qupperneq 31

Social Science Research - Random Notes
by
FREDERIK BREDAHL PETERSEN
In the article which follows I have attempted
to deal with a number of topics which at this
time are of interest and concern to myself. Having
recently returned from fieldwork in Iceland the
impressions which I now repeat will of necessity
be of an immediate nature. The central concern
which motivates me to write is that of the in-
terests of the profession of social anthropology.
Consequently I view this article as radiating in
several directions from this central concern, and
not being an article with a single topic analysis
in depth. The topics which motivate the writing
are ais follows: What must one possess as a
researcher before coming to Iceland? What is the
general state of the social sciences with regard to
the topic of social anthropology in Iceland?
What are some prime impressions that I have
taken back with me from that country ? What do I
view as the furture of social science research in
the general areas of which Iceland is a part? It is
for this reason the title of the article is called
“random”, and the word “notes” is included to
indicate to the reader that nothing very bombas-
tic or olympian will, or can be said at this time.
To the English language scholar, the wealth of
material on Iceland poses a problem. Travel des-
criptions, observations and scientific monographs
about this place exist in our language. However,
anyone wishing to do research in Iceland should
know that Icelandic is not the only foreign
language the scholar should be familiar with.
Regardless of how the citizens of this country feel
about the Danes, it should be stated that many
documentary sources, statistics, reports are
written in that language. It should also be stated
that important Icelandic material written by her
own scholars appears in the language of the
Frederik Bredahl Petersen, a Danish-American
social anthropologist at the University of Edin-
burgh, has spent the last two years in Iceland
making a sociological study in the district of
Skeidum, east of Reykjavik.
country where that scholar received his post
graduate training. Physical anthropological mono-
graphs are written in German, educational re-
search in French, and so on. Since World War II,
there has been an increase in the number of Ice-
landic students who have attended universities in
most western countries and the Soviet Union.
The consequences of this wealth of material
and the many languages in which it appears
makes research difficult. In fact one must resign
himself to missing out, regardless of effort, on
the bit or piece of information which could be
vital. But life is short, translations cost money,
and it is not shameful to know only five or six
languages. It depends upon what one is doing,
that is obvious. Say one is studying the 15th—
17th century in Iceland. Icelandic, but also Danish
and Latin will be needed. In the 19th century the
English, French and Germans sent many travel
parties to Iceland and their monographs tell much
about the place. If one confines his data to the
present, English and Icelandic should suffice. At
this moment Iceland is in her American phase,
and most of her scholars communicate in English.
It is great fun to do social research in that
country. Her people are culturally conscious, and
make quite often what one can only call boundary
limiting statements. That is, statements which
begin with “we”, and somewhere have the con-
trast built in of “they” the outsiders. The past is
very much with the present people, as are the
documents of the past. They form in one sense
the gospels of society. It is not an overstatement
to say -that the dead are always with you in Ice-
land. Her past citizens, their deeds, their writings,
but more than that, genealogy is one of the prime
myths of the society. Who you are does depend
upon your forefathers, and any oddities you pos-
sess may be noted as having been the charac-
teristics of a grandfather. Another facet of cul-
tural consciousness is the knowledge of what
foreigners write about the country, it’s inhabi-
tants and their modes of intercourse. The descrip-
tions are judged severely, and their highest acco-
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