Cultural anthropologists are responsible for studying contemporary human groups as they currently or most recently existed. The direct interaction with humans allows for cultural anthropologists to ask and answer questions concerning culture, specifically what it is, what it is not, and how it affect human thoughts and behaviors. As previously discussed cultural anthropologists go about studying humans and learning about culture through various methods, but the end product is typically the same: the production of an ethnography. Today’s blog post will address what ethnography is and why they are so important.
The term ethnography is best defined as a record of a culture or aspect of culture produced through in-depth study, typically using the participant-observation method, interviews, or both, by a social scientist. Ethnographic field methods allow for direct, in depth study of modern human groups, thereby leading to the production of data that can be used to understand the similarities and differences among human cultural groups. These data also allow for the study past and unavailable human groups among biological anthropologists and archaeologists seeking to understand human behavior. Ultimately, ethnographies offer information into what specific behaviors are inherently human.
Ethnographies are descriptive and interpretative in nature-they describe the culture or aspect of culture being studied, as well as provide interpretations for how and why the behaviors exist and persist. Classic ethnographies focused on the “anthropology of the other”, meaning cultural anthropologists would study cultures and people outside of their own culture to learn about a different cultural group (e.g. the Azande or Basseri). Today, ethnographies can and are completed among one’s own culture, typically understanding a specific subcultural group (e.g. goths) or aspect of cultural behavior (e.g. the Shaking Tent ceremony of the Ojibwa). This switch to the study of one's own culture has been adopted by various organizations, institutions, and businesses since it allows for the in depth study of people, problems, and potential solutions. One of the key requirements of ethnographies is to show the cultural group’s view points (known as the emic perspective), while also including the outsider’s interpretations (etic perspective).
Ethnographies are typically the end product of sociocultural anthropological research and detail the whole of the sociocultural research. Traditionally, ethnographies were exclusively large, written texts, and many still are. Ethnographies, however, have undergone their own evolution, and a variety of ethnographic films (such as those produced by Sam Dunn), comics, photography, or art are now available to both anthropologists and the general public. The paramount goal of ethnographies is to detail and share information about culture and cultural groups, so making them more accessible only aids in providing greater access to the cultural information.
Works Cited
Ethnographic Research Center, National Park Service. What is Ethnographic Research? N.D. Electronic. 26 March 2021.
Royal Anthropological Institute. Ethnography. 2021. Electronic. 26 March 2021.
Welsch, Robert, Luis Vivanco and Agustín and Fuentes. Anthropology: Asking Questions About Human Origins, Diversity, and Culture. . Oxford University Press, 2016. Document.
2 comments:
I have never heard of Ethnography but in this blog I learned an abundance of things. I learned that Ethnographies are records of a culture or aspect of culture produced by studying. What stuck out to me the most was that Ethnography evolve into comics. As a Huge Marvel and Comic fan that was great to find out.
-Jasmine Hill
I learned a few things from this post. The term ethnography is siding a little deeper in the history of one’s using a hands on more of an approach. This is more of a head on approach looking for resemblance among the cultures and any different attributes that stand out. Looking into the rich history of one’s culture will help guide anthropologists to help gather information that derives directly from humans. Navigating through history using tools and methods gives anthropologists a more reliable and detailed description of the information they find. Giving insight from different people about different cultures will help narrow down the flaws and aspects of the world and help better to understand how other people view the world in their own way. This information will allow for people to know more about the other cultures and heritages passed on perceptions about them from many people point of view.
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