ETHNOGR APHY

1. ETHNOGRAPHY Ethno: people or folk; Graphy: describe something = Ethnography: describing and understanding another way of life from the native point of view (Neuman, 2007) Aim • Alexis History: • Ardis/Kofi Methodology: • Katie Examples: • Alexis • Strengths & Weaknesses • Exercise

2. What is anEthnography? • It documents routine daily lives of people (Fetterman,1998) • Explores a cultural group • Lives with people, or spends a lot of time with them • Has a guiding question that evolves during the study (Hall, 2003)

3. Aim Aim of Ethnography Unobtrusive Identifies geographical and temporal coordinates Makes visible lives of those not normally told (Williams, 2000) Tries to obtain insider’s view of how a group manages and organizes their time (Viller, 2004) Understands the point of view from inside the group (McCleverty, 1997)

4. Aim • To identify behavior patterns and predict; to make the reader understand the perspective of the native to the culture studied (Fetterman, 1998) • Understand context, complexity, and politics of social processes (Warren, 2004)

5. History of Anthropology/Ethnography (USA) • Morgan • Lawyer and anthropologist • In 1851 he published an ethnography about Indians in the USA. He didn't gather the information himself- was a “sofa” anthropologist

6. History ofAnthropology (United Kingdom) • The first ethnographies in Britain were published in 1898-1899. They were built on field research like we know it today • Malinowski • Considered the father of modern anthropology • Wrote numerous ethnographies that are well known still today

7. Sir Frazer aboutMalinowski’s Methods in “Argonauts of theWestern Pacific.” • Malinowski’s work was done under the best conditions and provided the best possible results at that time • Good theoretical training • Stayed with the Trobriands for a great time • Lived as a native among natives • Watched them daily at work and at play • Had conversations with them in their own language • Derived information from personal observation • Statements directly by the natives • Characteristics of Malinowski’s method (Malinowski, 1922)

8. Malinowski´s Methods. • “I consider that only such ethnographic sources are of unquestionable scientific value, in which we can clearly draw the line between, on the one hand, the results of direct observations and of native statements and interpretations, and on the other hand, the inferences of the author, based on his common sense and psychological insight” (Malinowski, 1922, p. 3)

9. Malinowski -Important for Ethnographic Work: • Accurate information • Complex information • Observation • Speaking the native language is important • No contact with white people • Seek information naturally, instead of having informants • Should have a strong theoretical background • Join yourself with the natives • Typical ways of thinking and feeling • Use the native language as an instrument (Malinowski, 1922)

10. Evans-Pritchard´s Methodology • Malinowski´s student • Did research among the Azande 1926-1930 • 1930 published his ethnography “Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande” • Used informants • Native language • Length of stay 1-2 years • Get to know natives through the children • Live like the natives (Evans-Pritchard, 1988)

11. 1950s-1980s:Ethnography as “thick description” (Clifford Geertz) • Culture based • Meaning oriented. Meaning is “a set of culturally constructed and historically specific guides, frames, or models of and for human feeling, intention, and action” (Ortner 1999: 137) • Specific to time and place (i.e. cultural relativism) • Opposed to power and politics. “[C]ulture is not power, something to which social events, behaviours, institutions, or processes can be causally attributed; it is a context, something within which they can be intelligibly-that is, thickly-described”( Geertz 1973:14) • Opposed to the “thin description” of post-positivism

12. Attributes of Thick Description • Hermeneutics • Semiotics • Data: “our own constructions of other people’s constructions of what they and their compatriots are up to” (Geertz 1973:9) • Analysis: “guessing at meanings, assessing the guesses, and drawing explanatory conclusions for the better guesses” (p. 20) • Theory: a “General Theory of Cultural Interpretation” is not possible, but a “cultural theory” could be derived • Generalization: not possible across cases but within cases • Prediction: not prediction but anticipation

13. From 1980s:Re-emergence of politics and power in cultural/historical analysis of social Phenomena(Edward Said and Michel Foucault) • social phenomena as effects of external power structures (e.g. political and economic institutions at the national and international level) • Influenced by the rise of new perspectives such as critical theory and neo-Marxist ideology • cultural universalism

14. Today’s Ethnography: Holistic and Evolutionaryin nature • Characterised by a lack of consensus • Dissolving conceptual oppositions (Sahlins 1993) • Departure from the approach of “searching under the disturbed topsoil of modernity for the traces of a pristine and primitive existence” (Sahlins 1993) • Analysis of local situations with reference to relevant external institutional/political structures • Eclecticism of methodologies/ methods

15. The Effects ofPost-Modernism on Ethnography • Postmodernist came into anthropology around 1980 • Interpretation on interpretation on interpretation… • Reflexivity • Generalizations • Power • (Bowmann 1997, Layton 1997, Nugent 1996)

16. Methodology Outline of Process • Identifying problem or topic of interest • Fieldwork – Data collection and analysis • Participant Observation – Individuals and groups • Analysis – Holistic • Report (Fetterman, 1998)

17. Methodology • Definition: Documents the culture by studying the routine, daily lives of people (Fetterman, 1998), (Morse and Richards, 2002)

18. Methodology Ethnographer’s Jargon • Emic – inside (Hall, 2003) • Etic – outside (Hall, 2003) • Key informant / key actor – individual of group who closely interacts with ethnographer (Fetterman, 1998) • Culture - beliefs, values, behaviors of a cohesive people (Morse and Richards, 2002)

19. Methodology Characteristics of Ethnographies • Holistic • Data collection and analysis occur together • Data collection oscillates between individuals and groups (Fetterman, 1998)

20. NegotiateAccess

21. Methodology Fieldwork (Morse and Richards, 2002), (Fetterman, 1998) Stages • Negotiating entry– the Gatekeeper, Key Actors, Key Informants • Introductory period –routines, roles, relationships • Participatory observation– important! (Hall, 2003) • Withdrawal – Focus on analysis

22. Methodology Fieldwork Methods • Selection and sampling • Participant observation • Interviewing • Autobiographical interviewing • Questionnaires • Projective techniques • Participant’s classification • Outcropping • Existing documented information • Proxemics and kinesics • Folktales • Notes, notes, notes!!! (Fetterman, 1998)

23. Methodology Analysis • Evaluating relevance • Looking for patterns • Considering phenomena through the cultural perspective • “Thick description” (Morse and Richards, 2002) • Classifications, parameters, etic observations • Maps, drawings, charts (Fetterman, 1998)

24. Methodology A few words on writing… • Writing must be good from the field notes to the final product • Write for your audience • Write for the objective – to make the etic perspective see the emic perspective

25. Methodology Software Dictation software • MicNotePad • Power Secretary • IBM Voice Type Gold File-transfer Software • File Transfer Protocol Software • Telnet Software • Timbukto Pro • Fetch (Fetterman, 1998) Analysis Software • NUDIST* NVIVO

26. Examples • The National Park System Anthropology Background • Embedding Cultural Anthropology in NPS • Introduction of ERI (Ethnographic Resources Inventory) (Everett, 2006) • Sense of Place • By Keith Basso • Anarcho-Environmentalism Study • By Nicole Shepherd • Gaining Access

27. Advantages andDisadvantages Advantages: • In-Depth understanding of a culture amongst a group of people (detailed and more likely valid interpretations) • Gives a voice to a culture to express their views, which might not otherwise be heard • Influential in creating an understanding among outsiders • Also may reveal embedded cultural values that were not obvious to the group

28. Advantages andDisadvantages Disadvantages: • Cumbersome and Time-consuming, and can be expensive • Possibility that researcher is changing the natural way a culture behaves by being present • Not really able to generalize findings • Inappropriate for analyzing complex environmental problems whose cause-effect relationships are external to the place and time of study (e.g., climate change) • Difficulty of reconciling constructive engagement with critical reflection