Ethnography

It is interesting that the need for ethnographic retrospective and investigative research come up at this time. I have recently talked with film anthropologists and ethnographers, in NYC, who have told me how initially in their examination or studies they had to go back and do numerous research on how to go about learning and translating the nuances of a culture. “Ethnography”, serves as a guide or brief description of how to carry out Ethnographic study and also the different processes ethnographers go through in order to immerse themselves, investigate, and transcribe information regarding cultures that is explicable and diverse. “Anthropologists depend almost exclusively on ethnography to make broad generalizations about human beings”, as their goal is to often immerse themselves, access, and render their findings into some form of documentation. (67) As stated in the previous essay there continue to be many modifications and perspectives concerning ethnography; however, it is always fruitful to take a retrospective look at the foundations of modern anthropology and how its foremost participants such as Bronislaw Malinowski made their way.
MANY ETHNOGRAPHERS BEFORE THE ADVENT OF MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY SOUGHT TO BRING BACK A SKIM VIEW OF WHAT THEY OBSERVED BY SIMPLIFYING ASPECTS OF THE OBSERVED CULTURE. HOWEVER, A SMALL FEW DID BEGIN TO VERE FROM THAT NARROW POINT OF VIEW.MALINOWSKI, AN ENGLISH ANTHROPOLOGIST WAS THE FIRST TO REALLY EMPHASYZE THE RECORDING, STRUCTURE, AND ORGANIZATION THROUGH “CONCRETE DOCUMENTATION” WHICH SERVED TO IMPACT ETHNOGRAPHY. (69) ONE SUCH METHOD WAS THE PROCESS OF DOING EXTENSIVE FIELDWORK OR “LONG TERM PARTICIPATORY FIELDWORK”, WHICH CAN SERVE TO DISPEL PREVIOUS ASSUMPTIONS MADE BY THE ETHNOGRAPHER AND EVENTUALLY THE WORLD. THIS KIND OF EXTENSIVE FIELDWORK REQUIRES THAT AN ETHNOGRAPHER BE AN OBSERVER AS WELL AS ACTIVELY INTERVIEWING, SOMETIMES COLLABORATING, AND TAKING NOTES OF ALL INFORMATION. THE REQUIREMENTS ARE PATIENCE AND TIME DEPENDING ON CIRCUMSTANCES. FOR NOT ONLY IS INITIAL CULTURE SHOCK EXPECTED, BUT ALSO “MANY ANTHROPOLOGISTS MUST GAIN PERMISSION TO DO THEIR RESEARCH FROM EITHER GOVERNMENTS, ORGANIZATIONS, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, OR GROUP LEADERS.” (77) “FOR THIS REASON ETHNOGRAPHERS MAY HAVE TO WAIT YEARS FOR PERMISSION TO CONDUCT THEIR STUDIES.” (77) SO, THIS IS UNDERSTANDABLY AN IMMENSE UNDERTAKING, NOT TO MENTION VENTURING OUT OF AN ESTABLISHED COMFORT ZONE. HOWEVER, WITH ALL OF ITS NEGATIVES, THERE ARE GOOD REASONS FOR SUCH TRIALS, OR AS MALINOWSKI PUTS IT, BY “GRASPING THE OUTLOOK OF OTHERS, WITH REVERENCE AND REAL UNDERSTANDING…WE CANNOT BUT HELP WIDENING OUR OWN.” (75)
WRITING WHICH IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF ETHNOGRAPHY HAS EVOLVED EVEN FROM MALINOWSKI’S BELIEF THAT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE CAN BE SQUARELY DEFINED. THOUGH MODERN ETHNOGRAPHY DID HAVE ITS BEGINNING AS STRAIGHTFORWARD DATA, SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE TAKEN HIS MODEL AND DEVELOPED OR BROKEN IT DOWN INTO MORE EXPERIMENTAL FORMS. FIRST, WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT NOT ALL CULTURES AFFILIATE THEMSELVES WITH OR USE THE WRITTEN TEXT AS A MAJOR EXPRESSIVE FORM, WHICH IS INDICATIVE OF THE “EURO- AMERICAN TRADITION OF WRITING.” (87) AS A RESULT, “ETHNOGRAPHERS BEGAN TO WONDER HOW PEOPLE EXPLAINED THEIR OWN CULTURE IN THEIR OWN MINDS, IN THEIR OWN TERMS.”(87) AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS, SYMBOLIC ANTHROPOLOGY, WHICH SOUGHT TO EXPLAIN HOW CULTURE WAS UNDERSTOOD SYMBOLICALLY, THROUGH “CULTURAL METAPHORS, KEY SYMBOLS, OR PUBLIC RITUALS” (90) THROUGH ACCEPTING THIS, ETHNOGRAPHERS OR ETHNOSCIENTISTS BEGAN TO LOOK INTO HOW LANGUAGE, SYMBOLS, OR ACTIONS WERE USED AND FROM THERE UNDERSTAND AND SHOW “HOW THOSE PEOPLE DEFINE THE WORLD” AS OPPOSE TO COMPARING CULTURES.
THOUGH ETHNOGRAPHY HAS GREATLY EVOLVED, IT HAS TAKEN AND BORROWED FROM PREVIOUS FORMS. EXPERIMENTAL ETHNOGRAPHY USES SYMBOLIC ANTHROPOLOGY AS WELL AS UNDERSTANDS THAT “ WE ALWAYS APPROACH ETHNOGRAPHY THROUGH OUR OWN EXPERIENCE”(92). THIS CONCEPT DEVIATES FROM MALINOWSKI’S BELIEF OF AN UNBIASED SORT OF STUDY; HOWEVER, HIS INTENSIVE METHOD OF STUDY, PARTICIPATION, AND DOCUMENTATION IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HIS STRONG BELIEF THAT WE ARE TO CONTINUOUSLY CHALLENGE AND QUESTION OUR OWN VIEW OF OURSELVES, A TIMELESS IDEA THAT IS A UNIVERSAL STANDARD BY WHICH PEOPLE SHOULD AND CAN LIVE BY.