Welcome to What I Learned in Viscri. This site presents an overview of this author's experience of two weeks of field research in Viscri, a small village in Transylvania, Romania, in May of 2007. Offered through a study-abroad program at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and led by Professors Gail Bader and James M. Nyce, this unique introduction to anthropological field research brought together twelve students from Ball State University, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, University of Connecticut, and Drexel University, most of whom had little or no prior experience with field research.

Working as a group, students and professors met on site to discuss and develop together the topics of interest that would form the basis of study for the village. Three broad areas of Community, Family and Information Transfer were identified, which formed the basis for formulating questions to ask the villagers in interviews. These questions included:

Then, using the same three translators for the two-week period, students broke up into small groups and conducted interviews with members of the village. Care was taken to ensure that people from a range of ages, genders and backgrounds would be interviewed, from a list which included:

• Community leaders
• Educators
• Religious leaders
• Entrepreneurs
• Tradesmen and women
• Professional workers (i.e. healthcare, veterinary care)
• Unemployed

About the Author
Cheryl Klimaszewski is currently a graduate student in Drexel University's Library and Information Science program. She is also an artist and photographer who travels extensively to experience the world and also to build a body of photographic work. She keeps a website of this work and her other projects here. To learn more about information found on this website, please contact ck336_at_drexel_dot_edu.