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This chapter explores the aims of ethnography and fieldwork, discussing how anthropologists conduct ethnographic field studies and the changes that have occurred in this practice. It also examines the influence of anthropologists' personalities, social statuses, and cultures on their ethnographies, as well as the unique opportunities and ethical problems faced when studying one's own society. The chapter delves into various fieldwork techniques, such as participant observation, photography, and life history recording. It also highlights the historical development of anthropology and the role of feminist anthropology in questioning gender bias in ethnography. The importance of cross-cultural comparison, the study of native anthropology, and the ethical considerations of fieldwork are also discussed.
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Chapter 3 Doing Cultural Anthropology
Chapter Questions • What are the aims of ethnography and fieldwork? • How does an anthropologist do an ethnographic field study? • How has ethnography changed in the past century?
Chapter Questions • How do the personalities, social status and culture of anthropologists affect their ethnographies? • What are the special opportunities and problems in doing anthropology in one’s own society? • What are some of the ethical problems raised by ethnography? • How do anthropologists use ethnographic data?
Fieldwork • Firsthand exploration of a society and culture. • Develops a holistic perspective about a culture. • Reveals the difference between what people say they do and what they do.
Fieldwork Techniques • Participant observation • Photography and filming • Recording life histories • Using historical archives
Ethnography in History • Anthropology began in the late 19th Century as a comparative science. • Ethnographers concentrated on small-scale, technologically simpler societies. • Cultures were place on evolutionary scales of cultural development.
Early 20th century • Boas insisted that grasping the whole of a culture could be achieved only through fieldwork. • Malinowski suggested the main goal for an ethnographer was to obtain the native’s point of view.
Feminist Anthropology • Questions gender bias in ethnography and cultural theory. • Men, who had limited access to women’s lives, performed much of the fieldwork. • Ignoring women’s perspectives perpetuates the oppression of women.
Cross-Cultural Comparison • Use statistics to test generalizations about culture and human behavior. • Human Relations Area File (HRAF)—database including cultural descriptions of more than 300 cultures.
Native Anthropology • Study of one’s own society. • Anthropologists must maintain the social distance of the outsider. • Becoming more common as native cultures disappear.
The Ideal Anthropological Journey: Thrice Born • We are born into our original culture. • We move away from a familiar place to a far place to do field research. • We turn back to our native land and find the familiar has become exotic.
Ethical Fieldwork Anthropologists must: • Obtain consent of the people to be studied. • Protect them from risk. • Respect their privacy and dignity.
