Local Governance in Timor-Leste - Secretaria de Estado da Arte e ...

subdistrict politics where most local service delivery is based, including thesubdistrict police, health centre, church services and schools. Second, by visitingevery suku and interviewing all xefe suku within the subdistrict, I could gain a betterunderstanding of the unique history and politics of each suku. I could also gain apicture of the breadth of issues and constraints within each suku, and the respectivecapacities of the xefe suku in meeting these issues—providing much-needed textureand nuance to my research.2.5 Participant Observation and Embodied InteractionsWhile the data gathered from interviews provided the skeleton of my research, theunderlying meanings and values expressed in interviews were drawn out by living inthese communities for three months each. As various commentators have noted,participant observation involves a "delicate balance of subjectivity and objectivity"(Clifford, 1986: 13) and there is a spectrum of participant observation with fullimmersion at one extreme and outside observer at the other (Marshall and Rossman,1995: 60, Patton, 1990: 217). The time that is spent in communities is important indetermining where one's research fits on this spectrum, as are the different layers ofidentity that a researcher brings with him/her. During my time in Venilale and Ainaro,I had many opportunities to become involved in village life: living with a family inVenilale and at the convent in Ainaro, going to the market to buy food, teachingEnglish, and attending many weddings, christenings, kore metan 17 , Christmascelebrations and other ceremonies. I visited many areas in both subdistricts in mytime off, spent time with local friends and their families, visited matan dook, andassisted the nuns in their home visits to critically ill people. In Venilale, I was also aparticipant in a nahe biti boot 18 ceremony. This was an elaborate two-part ceremonyinvolving both families of victim and perpetrator, which addressed the wrong that hadbeen done by airing grievances and later sacrificing a goat, and restored balance to thecommunity and the ancestors through eating together and sharing stories.17 Kore metan: ‘taking off the black’, a ceremony marking the end of mourning, one year after arelative’s death.18 Nahe biti-boot: ‘spreading out the mat’, a traditional method of resolving issues or disputes byconsensus, presided over by a lia-na’in (traditional dispute resolution authority).37