Ethnography

For the journal, see Ethnography (journal).

Ethnography (from Greek ἔθνος ethnos “folk, people,nation” and γράφω grapho “I write”) is the systematicstudy of people and cultures. It is designed to explorecultural phenomena where the researcher observes soci-ety from the point of view of the subject of the study.An ethnography is a means to represent graphically andin writing the culture of a group. The word can thus besaid to have a “double meaning,” which partly depends onwhether it is used as a count noun or uncountably.[1] Theresulting field study or a case report reflects the knowl-edge and the system of meanings in the lives of a culturalgroup.[2][3][4]

Ethnography, as the presentation of empirical data onhuman societies and cultures, was pioneered in the bi-ological, social, and cultural branches of anthropology,but it has also become popular in the social sciences ingeneral—sociology,[5] communication studies, history—wherever people study ethnic groups, formations, compo-sitions, resettlements, social welfare characteristics, ma-teriality, spirituality, and a people’s ethnogenesis.[6] Thetypical ethnography is a holistic study[7][8] and so includesa brief history, and an analysis of the terrain, the climate,and the habitat. In all cases it should be reflexive, make asubstantial contribution toward the understanding of thesocial life of humans, have an aesthetic impact on thereader, and express a credible reality. An ethnographyrecords all observed behavior and describes all symbol-meaning relations, using concepts that avoid causal ex-planations.

1 History and meaning

The word 'Ethnography' is derived from the Greek ἔθνος(ethnós), meaning “a company, later a people, nation” and'-graphy meaning “field of study”. Ethnographic studiesfocus on large cultural group of people who interact overtime. Ethnography is a qualitative design, where the re-searcher explains about shared learnt patterns of values,behaviour, beliefs, and language of a culture shared by agroup of people.The field of anthropology originated from Europe andEngland designed in late 19th century. It spread itsroots to the United States at the beginning of the 20thcentury. Some of the main contributors like E.B Tay-lor (1832-1917) from Britain and Lewis Henry Mor-

gan (1818-1881), an American scientist were consid-ered as founders of cultural and social dimensions.Franz Boas (1858-1942), BronislawMalinowski (1858—1942), Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead (1901-1978),were a group of researchers from United States who con-tributed the idea of cultural relativism to the literature.Boas’s approach focused on the utilization of documentsand informants, whereas, Malinowski stated that a re-searcher should be engrossed with the work for long peri-ods in the field and do a participant observation by livingwith the informant and experiencing their way of life. Hegives the view point of the native and this became the ori-gin of field work and field methods.Since Malinowski was very firm with his approach he ap-plied it practically and travelled to Trobriand Island whichwas located off the eastern coast of New Guinea. He wasinterested in learning the language of the islanders andstayed there for a long time to do his field work. The fieldof ethnography became very popular in the late 19th cen-tury, as it interested many social scientists to study aboutthe modern society. Again the latter part of 19th century,the field of anthropology became a good support for sci-entific formation. Though the field was flourishing it had alot of threat to encounter. As colonialism ended, the cli-mate shifted towards post modernism and feminist thusbecoming popular. Therefore the field of anthropologymoved into discipline of social science.

2 Origins

Gerhard Friedrich Müller developed the concept ofethnography as a separate discipline whilst participat-ing in the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733–43) asa professor of history and geography. Whilst involvedin the expedition, he differentiated Völker-Beschreibungas a distinct area of study. This became knownas Ethnography.[9] August Ludwig von Schlözer andChristoph Wilhelm Jacob Gatterer of the University ofGöttingen introduced the term into academic discoursein an attempt to reform the contemporary understandingof world history.[9]

Herodotus known as the Father of History had signifi-cant works on the cultures of various peoples beyond theHellenic realm such as nations in Scythia, which earnedhim the title “Barbarian lover” and may have producedthe first ethnographic works.

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2 5 PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCTING ETHNOGRAPHY

3 Forms of ethnography

There are different forms of ethnography, confessionalethnography, life history, feminist ethnography etc. Twopopular forms of ethnography are realist ethnography andcritical ethnography. (Qualitative Inquiry and ResearchDesign, 93)Realist ethnography: is a traditional approach used bycultural anthropologists. Characterized by Van Maanen(1988), it reflects a particular instance taken by the re-searcher toward the individual being studied. It’s an ob-jective study of the situation. It’s composed from a thirdpersons perspective by getting the data from the memberson the site. The ethnographer stays as omniscient corre-spondent of actualities out of sight. The realist reports in-formation’s in a measured style uncontaminated by indi-vidual predisposition, political objectives and judgment.The analyst will give detailed report of everyday life ofthe individuals under study. The ethnographer also usesstandard categories for cultural description (e.g., familylife, communication network). The ethnographer pro-duces the participant’s views through closely edited quo-tations and has the final work on how the culture is to beinterpreted and presented. (Qualitative Inquiry and Re-search Design, 93)Critical ethnography: It’s another kind of ethnographicresearch in which the creators advocate for the liberationof gatherings which are marginalized in society. Criticalresearchers typically are politically minded people wholook for, through their exploration to take a stand in op-position to disparity and mastery. For example, criticalethnographer might study schools that provide privilegesto certain types of students, or counselling practices thatserve to overlook the needs of underrepresented groups.(Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94). The im-portant components of a critical ethnography incorporatea value- laden introduction, empowering people by giv-ing them more authority, challenging the status quo andaddressing concerns about power and control. A criti-cal ethnographer will study issues of power, empower-ment, inequality inequity, dominance, repression, hege-mony and victimization. (Qualitative Inquiry and Re-search Design, 94)

4 Features of ethnographic re-search

• Involves investigation of very few cases, maybe justone case, in detail.

• Often involves working with primarily uncon-structed data. This data had not been coded at thepoint of data collection in terms of a closed set ofanalytic categories.

• Emphasises on exploring social phenomenon rather

than testing hypotheses.

• Data analysis involves interpretation of the functionsand meanings of human actions. The product of thisis mainly verbal explanations, where statistical anal-ysis and quantification play a subordinate role.

• Methodological discussions focus more on questionsabout how to report findings in the field than onmethods of data collection and interpretation.

• Ethnographies focus on describing the culture of agroup in very detailed and complex manner. Theethnography can be of the entire group or a subpartof it.

• It involves engaging in extensive field work wheredata collection is mainly by interviews, symbols,artefacts, observations, and many other sources ofdata.

• The researcher in ethnography type of research,looks for patterns of the groups mental activities,that is their ideas and beliefs expressed through lan-guage or other activities, and how they behave intheir groups as expressed through their actions thatthe researcher observed.

5 Procedures for conductingethnography

• Determine if ethnography is the most appropriatedesign to use to study the research problem. Ethnog-raphy is suitable if the needs are to describe howa cultural group works and to explore their beliefs,language, behaviours and also issues faced by thegroup, such as power, resistance and dominance.(Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94)

• Then identify and locate a culture sharing group tostudy. This group is one whose members have beentogether for an extended period of time, so that theirshared language, patterns of behaviour and attitudeshave merged into discernable patterns. This groupcan also be a group that has been marginalized bysociety. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design,94)

• Select cultural themes, issues or theories to studyabout the group. These themes, issues and theo-ries provide an orienting framework for the study ofthe culture-sharing group. As discussed by Ham-merkksley and Arkinson (1995), Wolcott (1987,1994b, 2008-1), and Fetterman (2010). The ethno-grapher begins the study by examining people ininteraction in ordinary settings and discerns perva-sive patterns such as life cycles, events and culturalthemes. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design,94-95)

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• For studying cultural concepts, determine whichtype of ethnography to use. Perhaps how the groupworks need to be described, or a critical ethnogra-phy can expose issues such as power, hegemony andadvocacy for certain groups (Qualitative Inquiry andResearch Design, 95)

• Should collect information in the context or settingwhere the group works or lives. This is called field-work. Types of information typically needed inethnography are collected by going to the researchsite, respecting the daily lives of individuals at thesite and collecting a wide variety of materials. Fieldissues of respect, reciprocity, deciding who owns thedata and others are central to ethnography (Qualita-tive Inquiry and Research Design, 95)

• From the many sources collected, the ethnographeranalyzes the data for a description of the culture-sharing group, themes that emerge from the groupand an overall interpretation (Wolcott, 1994b). Theresearcher begins to compile a detailed descriptionof the culture-sharing group, by focusing on a singleevent, on several activities, or on the group over aprolonged period of time.

• Forge a working set of rules or generalisations asto how the culture sharing group works as the finalproduct of this analysis. The final product is a holis-tic cultural portrait of the group that incorporates theviews of the participants (emic) as well as the viewsof the researcher (etic). It might also advocate forthe needs of the group or suggest changes in society.(Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 96)

6 Ethnography as method

The ethnographic method is different from other ways ofconducting social science approach due to the followingreasons:

• It is field-based. It is conducted in the settings inwhich real people actually live, rather than in labo-ratories where the researcher controls the elementsof the behaviours to be observed or measured.

• It is personalized. It is conducted by researcherswho are in day-to day, face-to-face contact with thepeople they are studying and who are thus both par-ticipants in and observers of the lives under study.

• It is multifactorial. It is conducted through the use oftwo or more data collection techniques - which maybe qualitative or quantitative in nature - in order toget a conclusion.

• It requires a long term commitment i.e. it is con-ducted by researcher who intends to interact withpeople they are studying for an extended period of

time. The exact time frame can vary from severalweeks to year or more.

• It is inductive. It is conducted in such a way to usean accumulation of descriptive detail to build towardgeneral patterns or explanatory theories rather thanstructured to test hypotheses derived from existingtheories or models.

• It is dialogic. It is conducted by researcher whoseconclusions and interpretations can be commentedupon by those under study even as they are beingformed.

• It is holistic. It is conducted so as to yield the fullestpossible portrait of the group under study.

7 Data collection methods

Data collection methods are meant to capture the “socialmeanings and ordinary activities” [10] of people (infor-mants) in “naturally occurring settings” [10] that are com-monly referred to as “the field.” The goal is to collectdata in such a way that the researcher imposes a min-imal amount of personal bias on the data.[10] Multiplemethods of data collection may be employed to facili-tate a relationship that allows for a more personal andin-depth portrait of the informants and their community.These can include participant observation, field notes, in-terviews, and surveys.Interviews are often taped and later transcribed, allowingthe interview to proceed unimpaired of note-taking, butwith all information available later for full analysis. Sec-ondary research and document analysis are also used toprovide insight into the research topic. In the past, kin-ship charts were commonly used to “discover logical pat-terns and social structure in non-Western societies”.[11] Inthe 21st century, anthropology focuses more on the studyof people in urban settings and the use of kinship chartsis seldom employed.In order to make the data collection and interpretationtransparent, researchers creating ethnographies often at-tempt to be “reflexive”. Reflexivity refers to the re-searcher’s aim “to explore the ways in which [the] re-searcher’s involvement with a particular study influences,acts upon and informs such research”.[12] Despite theseattempts of reflexivity, no researcher can be totally unbi-ased. This factor has provided a basis to criticize ethnog-raphy.Traditionally, the ethnographer focuses attention on acommunity, selecting knowledgeable informants whoknow the activities of the community well.[13] Theseinformants are typically asked to identify other infor-mants who represent the community, often using chainsampling.[13] This process is often effective in revealingcommon cultural denominators connected to the topic be-ing studied.[13] Ethnography relies greatly on up-close,

4 8 DIFFERENCES ACROSS DISCIPLINES

personal experience. Participation, rather than just ob-servation, is one of the keys to this process.[14] Ethnogra-phy is very useful in social research.

A picture of the Izmir Ethnography Museum (İzmir EtnografyaMüzesi) from the courtyard.

Ethnography museum

Ybema et al. (2010) examine the ontological andepistemological presuppositions underlying ethnography.Ethnographic research can range from a realist perspec-tive, in which behavior is observed, to a constructivistperspective where understanding is socially constructedby the researcher and subjects. Research can range froman objectivist account of fixed, observable behaviors to aninterpretivist narrative describing “the interplay of indi-vidual agency and social structure.”[15] Critical theory re-searchers address “issues of power within the researcher-researched relationships and the links between knowledge

and power.”

8 Differences across disciplines

The ethnographic method is used across a rangeof different disciplines, primarily by anthropologistsbut also occasionally by sociologists. Cultural stud-ies, sociology, economics, social work, education,design, ethnomusicology, folklore, religious studies,geography, history, linguistics, communication stud-ies, performance studies, advertising, psychology, urbanplanning, usability, political science,[16] and criminologyare other fields which have made use of ethnography.

8.1 Cultural and social anthropology

Cultural anthropology and social anthropology were de-veloped around ethnographic research and their canonicaltexts, which are mostly ethnographies: e.g. Argonautsof the Western Pacific (1922) by Bronisław Malinowski,Ethnologische Excursion in Johore (1875) by NicholasMiklouho-Maclay, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) byMargaret Mead, The Nuer (1940) by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Naven (1936, 1958) by Gregory Bateson, or"The Lele of the Kasai" (1963) by Mary Douglas. Cul-tural and social anthropologists today place a high valueon doing ethnographic research. The typical ethnog-raphy is a document written about a particular peo-ple, almost always based at least in part on emic viewsof where the culture begins and ends. Using languageor community boundaries to bound the ethnography iscommon.[17] Ethnographies are also sometimes called“case studies.”[18] Ethnographers study and interpret cul-ture, its universalities and its variations through ethno-graphic study based on fieldwork. An ethnography is aspecific kind of written observational science which pro-vides an account of a particular culture, society, or com-munity. The fieldwork usually involves spending a yearor more in another society, living with the local peopleand learning about their ways of life.Ethnographers are participant observers. They take partin events they study because it helps with understand-ing local behavior and thought. Classic examples areCarol B. Stack's All Our Kin,[19] Jean Briggs’ Never inAnger, Richard Lee's Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers, VictorTurner's Forest of Symbols, David Maybry-Lewis’ Akew-Shavante Society, E.E. Evans-Pritchard's The Nuer, andClaude Lévi-Strauss' Tristes Tropiques. Iterations ofethnographic representations in the classic, modernistcamp include Joseph W. Bastien’s "Drum and Stetho-scope" (1992), Bartholomew Dean’s recent (2009) con-tribution, Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Pe-ruvian Amazonia.[20]

A typical ethnography attempts to be holistic[7][8] andtypically follows an outline to include a brief history of

8.1 Cultural and social anthropology 5

Bronisław Malinowski among Trobriand tribe

Part of the ethnographic collection of the Međimurje County Mu-seum in Croatia

the culture in question, an analysis of the physical geogra-phy or terrain inhabited by the people under study, includ-ing climate, and often including what biological anthro-pologists call habitat. Folk notions of botany and zoologyare presented as ethnobotany and ethnozoology alongsidereferences from the formal sciences. Material culture,technology, and means of subsistence are usually treatednext, as they are typically bound up in physical geographyand include descriptions of infrastructure. Kinship andsocial structure (including age grading, peer groups, gen-der, voluntary associations, clans, moieties, and so forth,if they exist) are typically included. Languages spoken,dialects, and the history of language change are anothergroup of standard topics.[21] Practices of childrearing, ac-culturation, and emic views on personality and values usu-ally follow after sections on social structure.[22] Rites, rit-uals, and other evidence of religion have long been aninterest and are sometimes central to ethnographies, es-pecially when conducted in public where visiting anthro-pologists can see them.[23]

As ethnography developed, anthropologists grew moreinterested in less tangible aspects of culture, such asvalues, worldview and what Clifford Geertz termed the“ethos” of the culture. In his fieldwork, Geertz used ele-ments of a phenomenological approach, tracing not justthe doings of people, but the cultural elements them-

selves. For example, if within a group of people, winkingwas a communicative gesture, he sought to first determinewhat kinds of things a wink might mean (it might meanseveral things). Then, he sought to determine in whatcontexts winks were used, and whether, as one movedabout a region, winks remained meaningful in the sameway. In this way, cultural boundaries of communicationcould be explored, as opposed to using linguistic bound-aries or notions about residence. Geertz, while still fol-lowing something of a traditional ethnographic outline,moved outside that outline to talk about “webs” insteadof “outlines”[24] of culture.Within cultural anthropology, there are several subgen-res of ethnography. Beginning in the 1950s and early1960s, anthropologists began writing “bio-confessional”ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature ofethnographic research. Famous examples include TristesTropiques (1955) by Lévi-Strauss, The High Valley byKenneth Read, and The Savage and the Innocent by DavidMaybury-Lewis, as well as the mildly fictionalized Returnto Laughter by Elenore Smith Bowen (Laura Bohannan).Later "reflexive" ethnographies refined the technique totranslate cultural differences by representing their effectson the ethnographer. Famous examples include DeepPlay: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight by Clifford Geertz,Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco by Paul Rabinow,The Headman and I by Jean-Paul Dumont, and Tuhamiby Vincent Crapanzano. In the 1980s, the rhetoric ofethnography was subjected to intense scrutiny within thediscipline, under the general influence of literary the-ory and post-colonial/post-structuralist thought. “Exper-imental” ethnographies that reveal the ferment of the dis-cipline include Shamanism, Colonialism, and the WildMan by Michael Taussig, Debating Muslims by MichaelF. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, A Space on the Side of theRoad by Kathleen Stewart, and Advocacy after Bhopal byKim Fortun.This critical turn in sociocultural anthropology during themid-1980s can be traced to the influence of the now clas-sic (and often contested) text,Writing Culture: The Poet-ics and Politics of Ethnography, (1986) edited by JamesClifford and George Marcus. Writing Culture helpedbring changes to both anthropology and ethnography of-ten described in terms of being 'postmodern,' 'reflexive,''literary,' 'deconstructive,' or 'poststructural' in nature, inthat the text helped to highlight the various epistemicand political predicaments that many practitioners saw asplaguing ethnographic representations and practices.[25]

Where Geertz’s and Turner’s interpretive anthropologyrecognized subjects as creative actors who constructedtheir sociocultural worlds out of symbols, postmodernistsattempted to draw attention to the privileged status ofthe ethnographers themselves. That is, the ethnogra-pher cannot escape the personal viewpoint in creatingan ethnographic account, thus making any claims of ob-jective neutrality highly problematic, if not altogether

6 8 DIFFERENCES ACROSS DISCIPLINES

impossible.[26] In regards to this last point, Writing Cul-ture became a focal point for looking at how ethnog-raphers could describe different cultures and societieswithout denying the subjectivity of those individualsand groups being studied while simultaneously doing sowithout laying claim to absolute knowledge and objec-tive authority.[27] Along with the development of experi-mental forms such as 'dialogic anthropology,' 'narrativeethnography,'[28] and 'literary ethnography',[29] WritingCulture helped to encourage the development of 'collab-orative ethnography.'[30] This exploration of the relation-ship between writer, audience, and subject has become acentral tenet of contemporary anthropological and ethno-graphic practice. In certain instances, active collabora-tion between the researcher(s) and subject(s) has helpedblend the practice of collaboration in ethnographic field-work with the process of creating the ethnographic prod-uct resulting from the research.[30][31][32]

8.2 Sociology

Sociology is another field which prominently featuresethnographies. Urban sociology and the Chicago Schoolin particular are associated with ethnographic research,with some well-known early examples being Street Cor-ner Society byWilliam FooteWhyte and Black Metropolisby St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, Jr.. Major in-fluences on this development were anthropologist LloydWarner, on the Chicago sociology faculty, and to RobertPark's experience as a journalist. Symbolic interaction-ism developed from the same tradition and yielded suchsociological ethnographies as Shared Fantasy by GaryAlan Fine, which documents the early history of fan-tasy role-playing games. Other important ethnographiesin sociology include Pierre Bourdieu's work on Algeriaand France. Jaber F. Gubrium’s series of organizationalethnographies focused on the everyday practices of ill-ness, care, and recovery are notable. They include Livingand Dying at Murray Manor, which describes the socialworlds of a nursing home; Describing Care: Image andPractice in Rehabilitation, which documents the social or-ganization of patient subjectivity in a physical rehabilita-tion hospital; Caretakers: Treating Emotionally DisturbedChildren, which features the social construction of behav-ioral disorders in children; andOldtimers and Alzheimer’s:The Descriptive Organization of Senility, which describeshow the Alzheimer’s disease movement constructed anew subjectivity of senile dementia and how that is or-ganized in a geriatric hospital. Paul Willis's Learning toLabour, on working class youth; the work of Elijah An-derson, Mitchell Duneier, and Loïc Wacquant on blackAmerica, and Lai Olurode’s Glimpses of Madrasa FromAfrica. But even though many sub-fields and theoreticalperspectives within sociology use ethnographic methods,ethnography is not the sine qua non of the discipline, asit is in cultural anthropology.

8.3 Communication studies

Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, ethnographic re-search methods began to be widely used by communi-cation scholars. As the purpose of ethnography is todescribe and interpret the shared and learned patternsof values, behaviors, beliefs and language of a culture-sharing group, Harris, (1968), also Agar (1980) note thatethnography is both a process and an outcome of the re-search. Studies such as Gerry Philipsen’s analysis of cul-tural communication strategies in a blue-collar, working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Speak-ing 'Like a Man' in Teamsterville, paved the way for theexpansion of ethnographic research in the study of com-munication.Scholars of communication studies use ethnographic re-search methods to analyze communicative behaviors andphenomena. This is often characterized in the writingas attempts to understand taken-for-granted routines bywhich working definitions are socially produced. Ethnog-raphy as a method is a storied, careful, and system-atic examination of the reality-generating mechanismsof everyday life (Coulon, 1995). Ethnographic work incommunication studies seeks to explain “how” ordinarymethods/practices/performances construct the ordinaryactions used by ordinary people in the accomplishmentsof their identities. This often gives the perception of try-ing to answer the “why” and “how come” questions ofhuman communication.[33] Often this type of research re-sults in a case study or field study such as an analysis ofspeech patterns at a protest rally, or the way firemen com-municate during “down time” at a fire station. Like an-thropology scholars, communication scholars often im-merse themselves, and participate in and/or directly ob-serve the particular social group being studied.[34]

8.4 Other fields

The American anthropologist George Spindler was a pi-oneer in applying ethnographic methodology to the class-room.Anthropologists such as Daniel Miller and Mary Douglashave used ethnographic data to answer academic ques-tions about consumers and consumption. In this sense,Tony Salvador, Genevieve Bell, and Ken Anderson de-scribe design ethnography as being “a way of understand-ing the particulars of daily life in such a way as to increasethe success probability of a new product or service or,more appropriately, to reduce the probability of failurespecifically due to a lack of understanding of the basicbehaviors and frameworks of consumers.”[35] SociologistSam Ladner argues in her book,[36] that understandingconsumers and their desires requires a shift in “stand-point,” one that only ethnography provides. The resultsare products and services that respond to consumers’ un-met needs.

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Businesses, too, have found ethnographers helpful for un-derstanding how people use products and services. Com-panies make increasing use of ethnographic methods tounderstand consumers and consumption, or for new prod-uct development (such as video ethnography). The re-cent Ethnographic Praxis in Industry (EPIC) conferencein 2008 was evidence of this. Ethnographers’ systematicand holistic approach to real-life experience is valued byproduct developers, who use the method to understandunstated desires or cultural practices that surround prod-ucts. Where focus groups fail to inform marketers aboutwhat people really do, ethnography links what people sayto what they do—avoiding the pitfalls that come from re-lying only on self-reported, focus-group data.

9 Evaluating ethnography

Ethnographic methodology is not usually evaluated interms of philosophical standpoint (such as positivism andemotionalism). Ethnographic studies need to be eval-uated in some manner. No consensus has been devel-oped on evaluation standards, but Richardson (2000, p.254)[37] provides five criteria that ethnographers mightfind helpful. Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein’s(1997) monograph, The New Language of QualitativeMethod, discusses forms of ethnography in terms of their“methods talk.”

1. Substantive contribution: “Does the piece contributeto our understanding of social-life?"

2. Aesthetic merit: “Does this piece succeed aestheti-cally?"

3. Reflexivity: “How did the author come to writethis text…Is there adequate self-awareness and self-exposure for the reader tomake judgments about thepoint of view?"[38]

4. Impact: “Does this affect me? Emotionally? Intel-lectually?" Does it move me?

5. Expresses a reality: “Does it seem 'true'—a credibleaccount of a cultural, social, individual, or commu-nal sense of the 'real'?"

10 Challenges of ethnography

Ethnography is one of the most in-depth studies. Ethnog-raphy, which is a method dedicated entirely to field work,is aimed at gaining a deeper insight of a certain people’sknowledge and social culture.Ethnography’s advantages are due to:

• It can open up certain experiences during group re-search where other research methods fail to cover.

• The notions that are taken for granted can be un-doubtedly covered and confronted.

• Most essentially it helps in vast varied understandingabout the depth of knowledge.

• However there are certain challenges faced by whenwe tend to use ethnography method of research dur-ing field work, they are as mentioned below:

• An expert knowledge required: Ethnographers needto have vast knowledge about their arena and needgood training, experience along with supervision,and a proper Know – how about their methods ofdata analysis.

• Sensitivity Level: The level of sensitivity of the sub-jective individual being studied is most vital, as cul-ture is a very vulnerable issue and proper care mustbe seen to avoid harm to individuals.

• Access: Negotiating access to field sites and partic-ipants can be time-consuming and difficult. Secre-tive or guarded organizations may require differentapproaches in order for researchers to succeed.[39]

• Duration: Research can involve prolonged time inthe field, particularly because building trust withparticipants is necessary for obtaining rich data.

• Ethics and values: In terms of ethics - as sensitivecultures are brought for studies, ethnographers canbring their own experiences which can cause biased-ness’ during the study conducted.

• Descriptive approach: It has a story telling approachwhich can impose as a limitation for the audience tolink and can be a bit challenging for the authors thatare used to the conventional approach to scientificwriting.

• Ethnography provides the key to help people useoutside their culture see what other cultures do andwhy do they do accordingly.

11 Ethics

Gary Alan Fine argues that the nature of ethnographic in-quiry demands that researchers deviate from formal andidealistic rules or ethics that have come to be widely ac-cepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches in re-search. Many of these ethical assumptions are rootedin positivist and post-positivist epistemologies that haveadapted over time, but are apparent and must be ac-counted for in all research paradigms. These ethicaldilemmas are evident throughout the entire process ofconducting ethnographies, including the design, imple-mentation, and reporting of an ethnographic study. Es-sentially, Fine maintains that researchers are typically notas ethical as they claim or assume to be — and that “each

8 11 ETHICS

job includes ways of doing things that would be inappro-priate for others to know”.[40]

Fine is not necessarily casting blame at ethnographic re-searchers, but tries to show that researchers often makeidealized ethical claims and standards which in are inher-ently based on partial truths and self-deceptions. Finealso acknowledges that many of these partial truths andself-deceptions are unavoidable. He maintains that “il-lusions” are essential to maintain an occupational reputa-tion and avoid potentially more caustic consequences. Heclaims, “Ethnographers cannot help but lie, but in lying,we reveal truths that escape those who are not so bold”.[41]Based on these assertions, Fine establishes three concep-tual clusters in which ethnographic ethical dilemmas canbe situated: “Classic Virtues”, “Technical Skills”, and“Ethnographic Self”.Much debate surrounding the issue of ethics arose fol-lowing revelations about how the ethnographer NapoleonChagnon conducted his ethnographic fieldwork with theYanomani people of South America.While there is no international standard on EthnographicEthics, many western anthropologists look to the Ameri-can Anthropological Association for guidance when con-ducting ethnographic work.[42] In 2009 the Associationadopted a code of ethics, stating: Anthropologists have“moral obligations as members of other groups, suchas the family, religion, and community, as well as theprofession”.[43] The code of ethics notes that anthropolo-gists are part of a wider scholarly and political network,as well as human and natural environment, which needsto be reported on respectfully.[43] The code of ethicsrecognizes that sometimes very close and personal rela-tionship can sometimes develop from doing ethnographicwork.[43] The Association acknowledges that the codeis limited in scope; ethnographic work can sometimesbe multidisciplinary, and anthropologists need to be fa-miliar with ethics and perspectives of other disciplinesas well.[44] The eight-page code of ethics outlines ethi-cal considerations for those conducting Research, Teach-ing, Application and Dissemination of Results, which arebriefly outlined below.[45]

• Conducting Research-When conducting researchAnthropologists need to be aware of the potentialimpacts of the research on the people and animalsthey study.[46] If the seeking of new knowledge willnegatively impact the people and animals they willbe studying they may not undertake the study ac-cording to the code of ethics.[46]

• Teaching-When teaching the discipline of anthro-pology, instructors are required to inform studentsof the ethical dilemmas of conducting ethnographiesand field work.[47]

• Application-When conducting an ethnography, An-thropologists must be “open with funders, col-

leagues, persons studied or providing information,and relevant parties affected by the work about thepurpose(s), potential impacts, and source(s) of sup-port for the work.” [48]

• Dissemination of Results-When disseminating re-sults of an ethnography, "[a]nthropologists have anethical obligation to consider the potential impact ofboth their research and the communication or dis-semination of the results of their research on all di-rectly or indirectly involved.” [49] Research resultsof ethnographies should not be withheld from par-ticipants in the research if that research is being ob-served by other people.[48]

11.1 Classic virtues

• “The kindly ethnographer” – Most ethnographerspresent themselves as being more sympathetic thanthey are, which aids in the research process, but isalso deceptive. The identity that we present to sub-jects is different from who we are in other circum-stances.

• “The friendly ethnographer” – Ethnographers oper-ate under the assumption that they should not dis-like anyone. When ethnographers find they intenselydislike individuals encountered in the research, theymay crop them out of the findings.[50]

• “The honest ethnographer” – If research participantsknow the research goals, their responses will likelybe skewed. Therefore, ethnographers often concealwhat they know in order to increase the likelihoodof acceptance by participants.[50]

11.2 Technical skills

• “The Precise Ethnographer” – Ethnographers oftencreate the illusion that field notes are data and reflectwhat “really” happened. They engage in the oppo-site of plagiarism, giving undeserved credit throughloose interpretations and paraphrasing. Researcherstake near-fictions and turn them into claims of fact.The closest ethnographers can ever really get to re-ality is an approximate truth.

• “The Observant Ethnographer” – Readers ofethnography are often led to assume the report ofa scene is complete – that little of importance wasmissed. In reality, an ethnographer will always misssome aspect because of lacking omniscience. Ev-erything is open to multiple interpretations and mis-understandings. As ethnographers’ skills in observa-tion and collection of data vary by individual, whatis depicted in ethnography can never be the wholepicture.

9

• “The Unobtrusive Ethnographer” – As a “partici-pant” in the scene, the researcher will always havean effect on the communication that occurs withinthe research site. The degree to which one is an“active member” affects the extent to which sym-pathetic understanding is possible.[51]

11.3 Ethnographic self

The following are commonly misconceived conceptionsof ethnographers:

• “The Candid Ethnographer” –Where the researcherpersonally situates within the ethnography is ethi-cally problematic. There is an illusion that every-thing reported was observed by the researcher.

• “The Chaste Ethnographer” – When ethnographersparticipate within the field, they invariably developrelationships with research subjects/participants.These relationships are sometimes not accounted forwithin the reporting of the ethnography, althoughthey may influence the research findings.

• “The Fair Ethnographer” – Fine claims that objec-tivity is an illusion and that everything in ethnogra-phy is known from a perspective. Therefore, it isunethical for a researcher to report fairness in find-ings.

• “The Literary Ethnographer” – Representation is abalancing act of determining what to “show” throughpoetic/prosaic language and style, versus what to“tell” via straightforward, 'factual' reporting. Theindividual skills of an ethnographer influence whatappears to be the value of the research.[52]

According to Norman K. Denzin, ethnographers shouldconsider the following eight principles when observing,recording, and sampling data:

1. The groups should combine symbolic meanings withpatterns of interaction.

2. Observe the world from the point of view of the sub-ject, while maintaining the distinction between ev-eryday and scientific perceptions of reality.

3. Link the group’s symbols and their meanings withthe social relationships.

4. Record all behaviour.

5. Methodology should highlight phases of process,change, and stability.

6. The act should be a type of symbolic interactionism.

7. Use concepts that would avoid casual explanations.

12 Examples of studies that canuse an ethnographic approach

• To study the behaviour of workers at a store in a mall- when the manager is present, and when he is not.

• To observe the kind of punishments children aregiven for not completing their homework at a par-ticular school.

• To follow hygiene patterns of adolescents in a par-ticular dormitory.

• To study altruistic behaviour members of a particu-lar church display for each other.

• To examine health habits of sex workers from a par-ticular locality.

12.1 Notable ethnographers

• Gerhard Friedrich Müller (1705-1783)

• Adriaen Cornelissen van der Donck (c. 1618 –1655)

• Manuel Ancízar Basterra (1812-1882)

• Franz Boas (1858–1942)

• Sergey Oldenburg (1863-1934)

• Edward Sapir (1884–1939)

• Raymond Firth (1901–2002)

• Margaret Mead (1901–1978)

• Gregory Bateson (1904–1980)

• Mary Douglas (1921–2007)

• Napoleon Chagnon (born 1938)

• Marilyn Strathern (born 1941)

• Elijah Anderson (born 1943)

• Veena Das (born 1945)

• Kristen R. Ghodsee (born 1970)

• Subhasish Bose (1947–2014)

• Zuzana Beňušková (born 1960)

• Zalpa Bersanova

• Jaber F. Gubrium

• Katrina Karkazis

• Diamond Jenness

• Ruth Landes

10 14 REFERENCES

• Edmund Leach

• José Leite de Vasconcelos

• Claude Lévi-Strauss

• Bronisław Malinowski

• David Maybury-Lewis

• Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay

• Nikolai Nadezhdin

• Lubor Niederle

• Dositej Obradović

• Alexey Okladnikov

• Richard Price

• August Ludwig von Schlözer

• Lila Abu-Lughod

• Barrie Thorne

• Sudhir Venkatesh

• Paul Willis

• Susan Visvanathan

• Thor Heyerdahl

13 See also

• Area studies

• Critical ethnography

• Ethnography of communication

• Ethnology

• Realist ethnography

• Online ethnography: a form of ethnography that in-volves conducting ethnographic studies on the Inter-net

• Participant observation

• Ethnoarchaeology

• Video ethnography

• Living lab

14 References[1] “Technical definition of ethnography”, American Ethnog-

raphy

[2] Geertz, C. (1973). Thick description: Toward an Inter-pretive Theory of Culture.

[3] In The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (pp. 3-30). New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers

[4] Philipsen, G. (1992). Speaking Culturally: Explorations inSocial Communication. Albany, New York: State Univer-sity of New York Press

[5] “Ethnology” at dictionary.com.

[6] Токарев, Сергей Александрович (1978). История за-рубежной этнографии (in Russian). Наука.

[7] Ember, Carol and Melvin Ember, Cultural Anthropology(Prentice Hall, 2006), chapter one.

[8] Heider, Karl. Seeing Anthropology. 2001. Prentice Hall,Chapters One and Two.

[9] Vermeulen, Hans (2008). Early History of Ethnographand Ethnolog in the German Enlightenment: Anthropolog-ical Discourse in Europe and Asia, 1710-1808. Leiden:Privately published.

[10] [Brewer, John D. (2000). Ethnography. Philadelphia:Open University Press. p.10.]

[11]

[12] [Nightingale, David & Cromby, John. Social Construc-tionist Psychology: A Critical Analysis of Theory and Prac-tice. Philadelphia: Open University Press. p.228.]

[13] G. David Garson (2008). “Ethnographic Research: Stat-notes, from North Carolina State University, Public Ad-ministration Program”. Faculty.chass.ncsu.edu. Re-trieved 2011-03-27.

[14] Genzuk, Michael, PH.D., A Synthesis of Ethnographic,Center for Multilingual, Multicultural Research, Univer-sity of Southern California

[15] S. Ybema, D. Yanow, H. Wels, & F. Kamsteeg (2010).“Ethnography.” In A. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe(Eds.), Encyclopedia of Case Study Research. (pp. 348-352). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

[16] Schatz, Edward, ed. Political Ethnography: What Im-mersion Contributes to the Study of Power. University OfChicago Press. 2009.

[17] Naroll, Raoul. Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthro-pology.

[18] Chavez, Leo. Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Workersin American Society (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropol-ogy). 1997, Prentice Hall.

[19] Stack, Carol B. (1974). All Our Kin:Strategies for Survivalin a black community. New York, New York: Harper andRow. ISBN 0-06-013974-9.

11

[20] “University Press of Florida: Urarina Society, Cosmology,and History in Peruvian Amazonia”. Upf.com. 2009-11-15. Retrieved 2011-03-27.

[21] cf. Ember and Ember 2006, Heider 2001 op cit.

[22] Ember and Ember 2006, op cit., Chapters 7 and 8

[23] Truner, Victor. The Forest of Symbols. remainder of ci-tation forthcoming

[24] Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Culture, Chapterone.

[25] Olaf Zenker & Karsten Kumoll. Beyond Writing Cul-ture: Current Intersections of Epistemologies and Represen-tational Practices. (2010). New York: Berghahn Books.ISBN 978-1-84545-675-7. Pgs. 1-4

[26] Paul A. Erickson & Liam D. Murphy. A History of An-thropological Theory, Third Edition. (2008). Toronto:Broadview Press. ISBN 978-1-55111-871-0. Pg. 190

[27] Erickson & Murphy (2008). A History of Anthropologi-cal Theory, Pgs. 190-191

[28] Kristen Ghodsee, “Writing Ethnographiesthat Ordinary People Can Read.” http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2013/05/24/writing-ethnographies-that-ordinary-people-can-read/

[29] Literary Ethnography http://literary-ethnography.tumblr.com/

[30] Olaf Zenker & Karsten Kumoll. BeyondWriting Culture:Current Intersections of Epistemologies and Representa-tional Practices. (2010). New York: Berghahn Books.ISBN 978-1-84545-675-7. Pg. 12

[31] Luke E. Lassiter (2001). “From 'Reading over the Shoul-ders of Natives’ to 'Reading alongside Natives’, Literally:Toward a Collaborative and Reciprocal Ethnography”, inJournal of Anthropologcal Research, 57(2):137-149

[32] Luke E. Lassiter. “Collaborative Ethnography and PublicAnthropology”. (2005). Current Anthropology, 46(1):83-106

[33] Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., and Piele, L. J. (2005). Com-munication Research: Strategies and Sources. Belmont,California: Thomson Wadworth. pp. 229.

[34] Bentz, V. M., and Shapiro, J. J. (1998). Mindful Inquiryin Social Research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. pp.117.

[35] Salvador, Tony; Genevieve Bell; and Ken Anderson(1999) “Design Ethnography,” Design Management Jour-nal (pp. 35-41). p.37

[36] Practical Ethnography

[37] Richardson,L. (2000). “Evaluating ethnography,” inQualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 253-255

[38] For post-colonial critiques of ethnography from variouslocations, see essays in Prem Poddar et al,Historical Com-panion to Postcolonial Literatures--Continental Europe andits Empires, Edinburgh University Press, 2008.

[39] Monahan, Torin, Fisher, Jill A. (2014). “Strategiesfor Obtaining Access to Secretive or Guarded Or-ganizations”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.doi:10.1177/0891241614549834.

[40] Fine, p. 267

[41] Fine, p. 291

[42] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethicshttp://www.aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/upload/AAA-Ethics-Code-2009.pdf, p.1

[43] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.1

[44] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.2

[45] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.1-8

[46] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.2-3

[47] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.4

[48] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.5

[49] American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.5-6

[50] Fine, p. 270-77

[51] Fine, p. 277-81

[52] Fine, p. 282-89

15 Further reading• Agar, Michael (1996) The Professional Stranger: AnInformal Introduction to Ethnography. AcademicPress.

• Clifford, James & George E. Marcus (Eds.). Writ-ing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnog-raphy. (1986). Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress.

• Douglas, Mary and Baron Isherwood (1996) TheWorld of Goods: Toward and Anthropology of Con-sumption. Routledge, London.

• Erickson, Ken C. and Donald D. Stull (1997) DoingTeam Ethnography : Warnings and Advice. Sage,Beverly Hills.

• Fine, G. A. (1993). Ten lies of ethnography. Journalof Contemporary Ethnography, 22(3), p. 267-294.

• Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures.

• Ghodsee, Kristen (2013) “Writing EthnographiesThat Ordinary People Can Read.” AnthropologyNews.

• Gubrium, Jaber F. (1988). “Analyzing Field Real-ity.” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

12 16 EXTERNAL LINKS

• Gubrium, Jaber F. and James A. Holstein. (1997)“The New Language of Qualitative Method.” NewYork: Oxford University Press.

• Gubrium, Jaber F. and James A. Holstein. (2009).“AnalyzingNarrative Reality.” ThousandOaks, CA:Sage.

• Heath, Shirley Brice & Brian Street, with MollyMills. On Ethnography.

• Hymes, Dell. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguis-tics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: Uni-versity of Pennsylvania Press.

• Kottak, Conrad Phillip (2005)Window on Human-ity : A Concise Introduction to General Anthropol-ogy, (pages 2–3, 16-17, 34-44). McGraw Hill, NewYork.

• Marcus, George E. & Michael Fischer. Anthropol-ogy as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Momentin the Human Sciences. (1986). Chicago: Univer-sity of Chicago Press.

• Moelker, Rene (2014) “Being one of the Guys or theFly on theWall? Participant Observation of VeteranBikers.” in (eds.) J. Soeters, P. Shields, S Rietjens.Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in Mili-tary Studies New York: Routledge. pp. 104–114.

• Miller, Daniel (1987) Material Culture and MassConsumption. Blackwell, London.

• Spradley, James P. (1979) The Ethnographic Inter-view. Wadsworth Group/Thomson Learning.

• Salvador, Tony; Genevieve Bell; and Ken Anderson(1999) Design Ethnography. Design ManagementJournal.

• Van Maanen, John. 1988. Tales of the Field:On Writing Ethnography Chicago: University ofChicago Press.

• Westbrook, David A. Navigators of the Contempo-rary: Why Ethnography Matters. (2008). Chicago:University of Chicago Press.

16 External links

• Human Relations Area Files

• 100 of the Most Influential Ethnographies and An-thropology Texts

• Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference

• Genzuk, Michael (2003) A Synthesis of Ethno-graphic Research

• Division of Anthropology, American Museum ofNatural History - Over 160,000 objects from Pa-cific, North American, African, Asian ethnographiccollections with images and detailed description,linked to the original catalogue pages, field note-books, and photographs are available online.

• Ross Archive of African Images

• Ethnographic material collection from NorthernAnatolia and Caucasus -Photo Gallery

• Ethnography.com A community based Ethnogra-phy website for academic and professional ethnog-raphers and interested parties

• New Zealand Museum Images of objects from Pa-cific cultures.

• University of Pennsylvania’s “What is Ethnogra-phy?" Penn’s Public Interest AnthropologyWeb Site

• American Ethnography -- Definitions: What isEthnography? A collection of quotes about ethnog-raphy (Malinowski, Lévi-Strauss, Geertz, ...)

• Doing ethnographies (Concepts and Techniques inModern Geography)

• Cornell University Library Southeast Asia Visions

• Ethnography for the masses 2CV’s Practical Appli-cation of Ethnography in Market Research

• Scott Polar Research Institute Arctic Material Cul-ture Collection

• Texts on Wikisource:

• Otis Tufton Mason (1905). "Ethnography".New International Encyclopedia.

• "Ethnology and ethnography". EncyclopædiaBritannica (11th ed.). 1911.

• "Ethnography". Encyclopedia Americana.1920.

• "Ethnography". Collier’s New Encyclopedia.1921.

13

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