look, as a Norwegian, educated blond and blue-eyed female person, did make a difference in how my informants saw me. Sometimes I would experience that some of my informants would position themselves a bit “on the side” of their Burmese identity and closer to my western position. In a way, they would reflect what they saw as “western” back onto me and refer to local Burmese people as “them” or “they,” separating themselves from this group, while other time it would be the opposite. Especially while meeting my informants in groupsetting with me as the only foreigner, they would amplify what is local, pointing out how I am different from them — maybe laughing at how I ate with chopsticks or how I could wear those loose pants instead of a local longyi. This would, naturally in one way or other make a difference in how my fieldnotes would look from the given day, something I always was aware of. It is essential for the ethnographer to reflect on and account for how one’s values and attitudes affect the choice of topic, data sources, and interpretations in the particular field site (NESH, 2016). During typical day to day settings, I would avoid writing in my notebook in front of my informants. I, therefore, was dependent on memorizing conversations or situations so that I could replicate the given information in the best way possible into my notebook. Aware that memory is not always trustworthy in itself, I always wore a black fanny-pack containing a small notebook. The notebook contained shorter notes and sentences to help remember later on while writing my extensive notes on my computer. Dedan would often joke about this fanny-pack, acknowledging how it was practical, but it looked funny. A while into my stay, he would additionally make jokes of my small bladder, since he would more often than other people see me leave to the toilet, well knowing I was about to write notes. A little acknowledgment of a perfected technique of writing notes while on a squatting toilet is suitable. As Dedan, the rest of my informants were well aware of me writing down conversations or situations, but it became clear that they as well as myself, mostly preferred me to not write in front of them as the conversations often went dead or slowed down at the sight of the notebook. In the second part of the fieldwork, I conducted interviews with my primary informants, as well as with a few people one can consider as experts. This was one person working with technology in Myanmar daily and a teacher. Besides, I had one focus-group with students to gain more access to accurate information on the font-conflict addressed in chapter 4. These interviews and the focus-group are all recorded to be able to, during the conversation, leave the notebook on the table more or less unused, only noting down thoughts and further 29

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