Review of the First Interview!

Wahoo! Finally was able to get around to the first interview and really sit down and talk with an insider of the culture for some great one on one. The person I was interviewing is a Mufti, as well as an Imam of the Masjid-Al Islam, Mufti Ikram ul Haq. This particular visit to the mosque was interesting even before the interview for a number of reasons. I found myself arriving once more to a mostly empty mosque, but this time there were a couple of boys playing around in one of the main halls with a Frisbee while an older man who appeared to be in his 40's was vacuuming the carpet. I introduced myself to him and the boys smiled and asked me if I was here to observe, I told them that I had done that last time and this time I was here to talk to the Imam. As if on cue the Imam emerged from his study and greeted me. He wore an almost golden robe of sorts and stood about my height with a large beard. He seemed like an extremely friendly person upon first meeting, and it makes sense as he's a religious leader for the Muslim community and would have to be a very personable man. I waited and watched the boys play for a couple of minutes while the Imam was speaking to a couple of young girls who then emerged and talked with the boys briefly before disappearing to leave. At this point the Imam invited me in and we began. Establishing a working rapport with the Imam was not difficult at all, we were both very friendly people and we exchanged pleasantries before getting right down to business. Taking my professor's advice, I had come up with only a few questions beforehand, and mostly let the interview steer in the direction that it so desired, as if the conversation between the two of us was a living being all of its own. I decided it'd be smart to start off broad, and began by asking the Imam about what exactly it's like to be an Imam. From this point I segued into asking about his childhood before moving onto the various topics that I hoped to cover. The first thing I noticed about our interview is that we were both very engaged, we finished each others sentences at some points when a similar idea came to both of our minds, and I also find that my favorite word is apparently "Right" and all variations of it. Upon listening to the recording of the interview, I notice that I use the word as an answer of sorts once the Imam had finished a question. The Imam and I were both very different people, while we were both males and lived in Rhode Island, he was old enough to have a family with a child who appeared to be in late Elementary School, while I was only 19. He was born in Pakistan and later moved to the United States while I had lived here all my life. Of course there was also the difference of him being Muslim, while I have never been a part of any religion and was an atheist of sorts. Despite these differences, the themes of the interview could be used to explain why there wasn't too much tension between the two of us. According to the Imam, Islam has a conception of certain universal values that apply to all people, so despite our vast differences, we both lined up on the matter of trusting each other and being honest with our intentions which allowed the interview to go very smoothly. There were a couple times when I accidentally began to speak while the Imam was taking a pause in speaking, but the majority of those times ended up meshing together well regardless. Our rapport grew from one of the first questions of the interview. I had a lot of tough questions for the Imam about the role of women, the American culture and the Muslim community's unity and tensions with it, and even the purpose of the world, but the question on American culture provoked a response on which we could both agree. I had asked him his opinion on the American media and how it treated Muslims, and I was surprised to find that he answered by saying that the public was smart, and the media were not able to feed them the distortions that they wished to. This is something I was very glad to hear as I'm always rooting for the intelligence and prowess of people over the cynical ideas that people are stupid and don't know what's good for them. From that point things became very relaxed from my perspective as we talked deeply about topics back and forth. The interview ended up going for around 29 minutes, and in the end we both shook hands, spoke briefly off the record, and held the various doors out of the mosque for each other before he and his family went out to dinner, and I headed back towards my own home. All in all it was a great experience, and one which I re-learned an old lesson from.

As a child I was unafraid to speak to anybody, and to say anything to them, as it didn't matter to me whether they were an adult or someone my age, this was seen as an undesirable trait when I was young, but very useful as I grew older and still kept the ability to speak to anyone despite their status. I utilized this ability of mine during the interview, but it sheds light on something I feel about the fieldstudy process in general. if there is one thing I dislike about this research process, it's the overwhelming focus on differences between you and the person you're interviewing. To me it as though always taking class, race, gender, and the like as the paramount consideration actually serves to dehumanize the other person rather than make yourself more respectful. In better words, it serves to make a more jittery and stiff interview rather than one in which two people can speak freely. As the Imam had said, people aren't stupid, and if I'm spending all my time thinking about stepping over eggshells and distancing myself, my interviewee will pick up on this and likely be a bit reserved themselves. For this reason I find it much easier to get a smooth and deep interview when it's framed in my mind in terms of two equal humans discussing topics.