SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963
249
clearer picture of what is being thought in the countryside about development would no doubt be of help to it. On the housing question itself I suggest that it would be worth organising an enquiry into the present arrangement of space and the uses to which it is put; the current modifications which are being made by villagers (increasing daylight by making windows, altering kitchens and bathrooms, re-arranging sleeping accommodation, and so on) to old houses; the departures from tradition in the design of new houses; and the social causes and consequences of these changes. In connection with the last point, it hardly needs stressing that changes in family structure may both precede and follow changes in accommodation. Some of the assessment of housing in relation to new needs and tastes will be made in the course of community studies, for it is an inevitable part of the work of a student of family life; but it might be an interesting and useful exercise to get an architect and a social investigator to work together on the many sides of the question.
87. If an anthropological field worker with the necessary economic skills were available it would be sensible to put him on to a study of land tenure in conjunction with the other economic institutions and activities of a community where both new and old forms of agriculture are being practised. The new agriculture would probably imply the presence of immigrants and there would be an opportunity to study the extent to which the old-established population has taken over the new forms and techniques. A rounded economic investigation of this sort would, of course, need to go into questions of credit, capital accumulation, marketing, investment, management (of both farms and small businesses), the penetration of industry (as in domestic work on plastic flowers and toys and in factory labour), and the sources and nature of entrepreneurial enterprise. I envisage a study in depth and therefore confined to one or two communities, but a list of crucial indices might emerge from it which could be used as the basis for a wide-ranging enquiry by questionnaire methods. Presumably the Agriculture and Forestry Department and the Co-operative Development and Fisheries Department might consider taking part in such an investigation.
88. I was much struck in the New Territories by both the success of the efforts of recent years to provide schools and the strength of the desire on the part of some people to go beyond what official policy is thought to contemplate for the near future. There is now,
SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963
249
clearer picture of what is being thought in the countryside about development would no doubt be of help to it. On the housing question itself I suggest that it would be worth organising an en- quiry into the present arrangement of space and the uses to which it is put; the current modifications which are being made by villagers (increasing daylight by making windows, altering kitchens and bathrooms, re-arranging sleeping accommodation, and so on) to old houses; the departures from tradition in the design of new houses; and the social causes and consequences of these changes. In connection with the last point, it hardly needs stressing that changes in family structure may both precede and follow changes in accommodation. Some of the assessment of housing in relation to new needs and tastes will be made in the course of community studies, for it is an inevitable part of the work of a student of family life; but it might be an interesting and useful exercise to get an architect and a social investigator to work together on the many sides of the question.
87. If an anthropological field worker with the necessary economic skills were available it would be sensible to put him on to a study of land tenure in conjunction with the other economic institutions and activities of a community where both new and old forms of agriculture are being practised. The new agriculture would probably imply the presence of immigrants and there would be an opportu- nity to study the extent to which the old-established population has taken over the new forms and techniques. A rounded economic investigation of this sort would, of course, need to go into questions of credit, capital accumulation, marketing, investment, manage- ment (of both farms and small businesses), the penetration of in- dustry (as in domestic work on plastic flowers and toys and in factory labour), and the sources and nature of entrepreneurial enterprise. I envisage a study in depth and therefore confined to one or two communities, but a list of crucial indices might emerge from it which could be used as the basis for a wide-ranging enquiry by questionnaire methods. Presumably the Agriculture and Forestry Department and the Co-operative Development and Fisheries De- partment might consider taking part in such an investigation. 88. I was much struck in the New Territories by both the success of the efforts of recent years to provide schools and the strength of the desire on the part of some people to go beyond what official policy is thought to contemplate for the near future. There is now,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.