Paper short abstract:

Drawing on a multi-local fieldwork experience amongst Sikh immigrants and their offspring in Finland and in California, this paper seeks to explore what role the Internet plays in the study of mobile people.

Paper long abstract:

When the field is marked by a high degree of mobility and dispersion, and its literal location is unknown, are conventional fieldwork methods apt enough to kick off the fieldwork enterprise? Or is there perhaps a need to enlarge the corpus of traditional fieldwork methods by officially welcoming the Internet as a research tool into the fold of practiced and taught fieldwork methods?

This paper seeks to reflect on the various ways in which the Internet can assists in conducting multi-local fieldwork amongst mobile people. My fieldwork conducted amongst Sikhs with an immigrant background, living in Yuba City (California) and Helsinki (Finland), serves as a case study.

In particular, this paper will highlight the usefulness of the Internet, and especially the social network service Facebook, for getting and staying in contact with informants. Further, questions concerning research ethics and how to exit the field will be discussed briefly in the end of the presentation.