This is an except from an in person interview that I conduct with my dad about a cultural artifact in our house.

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O: The other day I noticed that we had quite a few masks hanging around the house. I’m not really sure what they are. Can you let me know?

D: Well this specific one that we’re looking at is the Ivory Mask stolen from the Benin Empire by the British after a conflict.

O: Can you tell me more about them because these are clearly not the ivory masks, so what exactly are they?

D: Well the ones we have are replicas of course. The originals are all in British Museums and in private collections in Britain. The Ivory Mask was worn by the wife of the Oba of Benin. It is part of regalia. It was looted by the British and they looted other cultural artifacts. But these particular ones were looted as a spoil of war. There was a conflict; a clash. The items were taken back to Britain as war booty. The quality of the craftsmanship and intricacies created an extraordinary demand which led the British to continue their raids and many other religious symbols were stolen.

O: What’s the Oba of Benin?

D: The Oba is the title of the traditional ruler of the Benin Empire. In Igboland they generally use Igwe or Eze.

O: Earlier you said that the masks are religious symbols?

D: Yes. It is part of regalia but in totality, it is part of the paraphernalia of the court. The royalties wear them. The image of the primary one, the one that is well known, that particular one the image was actually used in FESTAC 77.

O: FESTAC 77?

D: It was a festival of Black and African culture that was held in 1977 in Nigeria.

O: Is there somewhere where you can view the original?

D: The original is in Britain but there are other copies. Not so much as copies, but that serve a similar purpose. Two, I think, are still in the Metropolitan Museum here in the United States.

O: Did you go and see it yourself?

D: Yes. When I saw that, I wasn’t really aware that that particular copy existed. It turned out that everybody knows about the main one, but there were other minor ones that were also taken. And, one of the minor ones is still in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

After reflecting on my interview, analyzing it with Peter helped me to articulate some of the unique aspects of interviewing a family member. First, establishing rapport with the informant is usually not necessary because it is likely that you already know your family member’s positions, interest, feelings, and overall worldviews on certain issues. Additionally, one thing Peter pointed out was that in these situations you tend to have more knowledge about the tendencies and speech patterns of your informant. This knowledge is important as it affects the type of questions asked. While it is generally better to ask open question, I knew that my dad tends to give full answers, as opposed to one-word answers. Therefore, using closed questions was not as big of an issue as it could have been.

While my interview was not virtual, conducting an in-person interview while studying virtual ethnography helps to juxtapose the two forms of research. Though my experience is not the most generalizable since I was speaking with someone I am familiar and comfortable with, one thing I noticed was that at times when I was taking notes, my informant would stop, slow down, or be distracted by my actions. I believe this is because in person interviews requires the interviewer to be aware of his or her actions in ways that differ from virtual interviews.

In terms of what I would do differently, I would have structured this interview a bit more. This interview was quite spontaneous in that I was having a conversation with my father and asked about the masks. I realized I could use our conversation for this assignment so I only spent about 2 or 3 minutes planning out questions. Therefore, the interview was more semi-structured and conversation than structured. Another thing I would like to try differently is adding more context to my questions. While I do not think it was necessary in this interview, after speaking with Peter I realized the importance of contextualizing questions to receive a more substantial response.