This results in an appreciation of both difference and sameness. [4] The expression ‘world view’ is theoretically contentious in anthropology. In recent years, equally high-quality ethnographic fieldwork continues to be undertaken in New Guinea and Oceania, not least inspired by the work of Marilyn Strathern (1989), as well as in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, which has impacted contemporary theory. Berkeley: University of California Press. At the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropologists reviewed the “primitive” cultures through visits to other countries and struggled with the community for a long period of time. However, it is worth bearing in mind that much innovative theoretical insight of general import was gained from the early studies of small-scale societies in the Pacific, Amazonia, and Africa, and that these have shaped the anthropology of development and applied anthropology as much as they have academic anthropology. They also use elicitation techniques similar to those employed by typological linguists interested in … Frazer, J. [5] Wisdom required for serendipitous discoveries is obtained through the day-to-day participant observation that develops a particular way of being and seeing – a way that springs out of anthropological concerns. London: Allen & Unwin. This forces the researcher to allow herself to be open to the unexpected event or utterance. [2] The expression ‘the native’s point of view’ is as applicable to the study of middle-class managers in a German town as it is to a South Sea island community. Rather, in Britain a group of men subsequently termed ‘armchair anthropologists’ laid the groundwork for the comparative study of human society and culture. I read historical documents that dealt with adoption and I became interested in changes in adoption laws in Norway, other Western countries, and in the countries that sent children abroad in adoption; I studied international treaties and conventions on children and childrens’ rights and on the control of international adoption. Malinowski’s studies from the Trobriand Islands is a prime example. It is better regarded as a methodological ‘onion,’ with no firm centre. That is the be-all and end-all of anthropology and, as such, central to disciplinary identity. To base one’s study on the ‘native’s point of view’, and to disentangle what really goes on rather than what people say goes on, is one central advantage of the method. Ethnographic fieldwork demonstrated beyond doubt that there was no basis for maintaining the evolutionary model of human mentality. Regardless of whether the fieldwork is in an Indonesian village or a large company in a European city, that is what anthropologists strive to achieve. However, regardless of where or what, most would argue that they perform a micro-study of some kind and that the same methodological criteria are adhered to. She seeks to participate in daily and ceremonial life, preferably as a contributor as she becomes affiliated to a household or some other local group, and all the while she will observe, ask questions, and take notes. 1890. The British and the French armchair anthropologists were extremely well-read about ‘primitive’ customs and beliefs, but they had never visited, let alone lived in, one of the ‘exotic’ social groups that they claimed to study. ethnographic methods share with non‑classical ethnographic methods. Today, the latter is the more common, due largely to the ease of modern means of travel. This is how anthropology differs from the other social sciences. On Ethnographic Methods “Ethnographic fieldwork is an extended period of close involvement with the people whose way of life interests the anthropologist” (Lavenda & Schultz:247) Participant Observation: principle method for fieldwork Moodle site: Course (Login required) Faculty. Not only was there a concern that comparison simply extends the colonial gaze, but also it became politically problematic and morally unacceptable to study supposedly powerless small communities in former colonial domains, to make them, the argument went, into the reified ‘Other’ (e.g. The ethnographer always engages with contemporary anthropological theory in her interpretations. The lawyer-ethnographer L.H. R. Goodman, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001. Bellstorff, T. 2012. Glossary of Terms. There has been some confusion regarding the terms ethnography and ethnology.The latter, a term more widely used in Europe, encompasses the analytical and comparative study of cultures in general, which in American usage is the academic field known as cultural anthropology (in British usage, social anthropology). This chapter and the next will present a critical review of the more common data-collection techniques and analytical procedures currently practiced by professional linguistic anthropologists. Religious, gay, youth, poor, immigrant, bankers, hospital wards, and many more communities in the vicinity may be as ‘remote’ from their previous experience and as ‘exotic’ as any community in the Global South. Boas, F. 1966. Returns to the field: multitemporal research and contemporary anthropology. The anthropologist returns again and again at relatively frequent intervals, thus deepening the relationship with the people and widening the scope of anthropological practice in subtle ways. Looking at this work provides insights on how contemporary forms of … 1996. 1995. Ethnography involves hands-on, on-the-scene learning — and it is relevant wherever people are relevant. Ethnographic Methods. However, the ideals of the participant-observation method guide all interaction in the field, and ethnographic field research continues to be inductive.Â, American cultural anthropology focused on identifying cultural values and ethos embedded in individual actors, and their field-research revealed much about religious understandings, mythology, and notions of personhood. 1871. This gave rise to the so-called nature or nurture debate that, in some form or other, is still with us today. The principles that Malinowski identified apply today as much as then. What those who undertake some form of ‘qualitative research’ often fail to appreciate, is that what people say they do is often very different from what they actually do. In Anthropology and cultural studies (eds) S. Nugent & C. Shore, 103-125. London: Pluto Press. Boas trained a number of talented students, all of whom undertook their own field studies – mainly of various American Indian groups. Participant-observation is far from a straightforward or generally agreed upon project. Systems of consanguinity and affinity of the human family. Many will argue that such research is best carried out after having had the experience of fieldwork elsewhere – this was my experience[6] – while others claim that a conceptual boundary between home and away is artificial. Marilyn Strathern is reported to have said that anthropologists study social relationships by making social relationships. Ethnography is a qualitative research method that comes from the discipline of anthropology but is applicable to other disciplines. Many are part of a large, multidisciplinary team where the anthropological contribution is highly valued, while others carve out their own micro-field in a globalised world. Ethnography and general theory or people versus humankind. This is one reason for undertaking fieldwork outside one’s own socio-cultural domain. Ethnography (from Greek ἔθνος ethnos "folk, people, nation" and γράφω grapho "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. This is the premise for how they perform their fieldwork – wherever that may be – and this is the basis for their writings. The anthropologist’s antennas must be at work all the time in order to pick up the unstated and the taken-for-granted, as well as tensions and conflicts, all of which must be brought to bear on the analysis of the bigger whole. They also use elicitation techniques similar to those employed by typological linguists interested in grammatical patterns. Annual Review of Anthropology 24, 95-117. ——— & M.J. Fisher 1986. Many would agree and argue that for this to be achieved, the comparative ambition of anthropology must be cherished. Increasingly, however, the distinction between the two is coming to be … & S. Coleman 2017. While the cutting edge in the discipline may be the most recent theoretical concepts, they often soon lose their attraction, whereas the old anthropological texts based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork rarely lose their salience. Ethnographic fieldwork used to be more open-ended than it is today, when increasingly anthropologists go to the field with a particular research question in mind. Questioning who had replaced the ‘other’ as a result of this critique, Robbins suggested that the ‘suffering other’ at home had become the legitimate subject for anthropological ethnographic investigation (Robbins 2013). It was not until the arrival on the British anthropological scene of the Polish intellectual Bronislaw Malinowski (see below) at the end of World War I, whose path-breaking studies of the Trobriand Islanders were based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, that participant-observation became integral to the discipline of social anthropology. To cultivate a reflexive alien gaze is particularly important when undertaking one’s ethnographic research close to ‘home’. Anthropology is an academic discipline that constructs its intellectual imaginings upon empirical-based knowledge about human worlds. Essential perplexities. Thus the method of participant-observation is found to be useful by those who, for example, study life in a large bank, or the gay community in an American urban setting, as much as in a settlement in the Malaysian rain forest. That is, they argued that each culture should be studied according to its own beliefs and values, that there is nothing essentially human that transcends culture. Darwin, C. 1972 [1859]. The golden bough: a study in comparative religion. Which are the central theoretical concepts to be addressed? Having said that, the empirical focus for ethnographic research is in flux. At the same time, as the people studied become literate and highly educated, they increasingly become active partners in the anthropological enterprise, thereby enhancing the understanding and knowledge of the field-worker and, simultaneously, giving themselves a new window through which they can view their own society in a changing world. Through a holistic investigation in which patterns of behavior, utterances, and actions are contextualised and placed in relation to each other, a world view[4] may be detected: ideas about human nature, gender, family, economy, politics and religion become discernible. Included among such as non‑classical ethnographic methods are; Anthropology as a discipline without participant-observation fieldwork would have very little to offer the academic world, or the general public. Richards, A. Check if you have access via personal or institutional login. Anthropology is a discipline of amazement; knowledge of other peoples’ lives obtained during ethnographic fieldwork never ceases to astonish, even stupefy the ethnographer. London: Dent. Whyte (1943). This approach is referred to as ethnographic realism. Chicago: University Press. Ethnographers from these countries sought to map this primarily through the study of kinship systems. She has subsequently undertaken fieldwork in eastern Indonesia and she has performed a major study on values and practices of transnational adoption in Norway. New York: William Morrow & Co. Morgan, L.H. Multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork arose as a response to new topics for anthropological investigation, such as the study of reproduction and reproductive technologies, new modes of electronic communication such as internet and mobile telephones, transnational adoption, and local mobility and migration. Anthropologists will still claim that only the very nature of their ethnographic method of long-term participant observation can provide a unique contribution to knowledge about other life-worlds. Ingold, T. 2016. At the same time, it is important to bear in mind that participant-observations presuppose a central premise, namely that any ethnographic experience must be preceded by an examination of ones’ own ‘pre-understanding’ – to be reflexive about the understanding that is brought from home. The British and French tended to undertake their field research in their own colonies, and continued to go to the same countries after they became independent. Feminist Ethnography is both methodology and method that seeks to explore how gender, race, sexuality, and subjectivity operate in a variety of contexts. Oxford: University Press. With the exception of occasional references to practical questions, this chapter will emphasize the logic of research habits and procedures rather than the technical solutions needed to solve common research problems. Â. It is noticing the unfamiliar and the unexpected, however mundane, that sharpens the attention and renders everything to be of potential interest. Robbins, J. Ethnographic fieldwork is the method that defines social anthropology. She has published widely based on her three fieldworks. Tylor, E.B. They make one acknowledge that so much of what is taken for granted, what is considered to be ‘natural’ and right, is very far from the case. It is undertaken as open-ended inductive long-term living with and among the people to be studied, the sole purpose of which is to achieve an understanding of local knowledge, values, and practices ‘from the “native’s point of view”’. Such paradoxes become apparent only through long-term fieldwork. Students in the Class of 2021 who are already enrolled will be supported in their completion of the Certificate in Ethnographic Studies. He goes on to state that: [a] discipline which deals with an evaporating subject matter, staking claim to a method which it shares with the rest of the social sciences anyway, and deficient in theoretical traditions […] does not exactly add up to defensible identity of anthropology today (Giddens 1995: 274). The ethnographic method was originally developed in the field of social anthropology, but has grown in popularity across several disciplines, including sociology, geography, criminology, education and organization studies. Beyond the suffering subject: towards an anthropology of the good. Another trend in non‑classical ethnographic methods is their adoption by researchers outside of the disciplines of ethnography and anthropology. Ethnographic field work is the primary methodology employed by anthropologists, although other disciplines such as cultural studies and sociology may also employ ethnographic methods. The method is inductive and open-ended. London: Routledge. From the perspective of the culture concept, anthropologists must first treat all these elements as symbols within a coherent system and must record observations with attention to the cultural context and the meanings assigned by the culture's practitioners. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford 23(1), 17-36. & G. E. Marcus (eds) 1986. A substantial proportion of new recruits must continue to undertake long-term fieldwork in places far-away from their home: places where they have to learn to communicate in a previously-unknown language. We will explore articulations and critiques of feminist ethnographic methods that engage researcher positionality and the politics of research. That’s enough about ethnography. Linguistic anthropologists use traditional ethnographic methods such as participant-observation and work with native speakers to obtain local interpretive glosses of the communicative material they record. Out in the field: reflection of lesbian and gay anthropologists. However, while such methods are shared by other disciplines, anthropologists argue that they gain a different and more holistic and profound understanding when they engage in a participant-observation regime. These were, it was argued, pretending to provide an objective picture of the communities studied, on par with scientific research, whereas fieldwork is highly personal and idiosyncratic and findings are coloured by the training and personality of the anthropologist. "Ethnography is the recording and analysis of a culture or society, usually based on participant-observation and resulting in a written account of a people, place or institution". Borneman, J. Mead, M. 1928. Man (N.S.) The origins of the family, private property and the state. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co. Firth, R. 1959. It is first and foremost the fieldwork method of participant-observation and the kinds of anthropological questions, debates, and analyses that spring out of it as these are embedded in an holistic analysis – questions about social production, and the cultural meaning of, for example: kinship, sociality, labour, money, exchange, social stratification, conflict, authority, gender etc. The following is a useful definition of ethnography: ‘the recording and analysis of a culture or society, usually based on participant-observation and resulting in a written account of a people, place or institution’ (Simpson & Coleman 2017). Malinowski, B. Cultural data assumes the form of directly observable material items, individual behaviors, performances, ideas and arrangements that exist only in people's heads. Leap (eds) 1996. Listed in: Anthropology and Sociology, as ANTH-230. Ethnographic fieldwork, carried out according to the method of long-term participant-observation, is what defines social anthropology. On Historical Principles. 3rd edition. This raises the question of what insights anthropologists can provide that a clever investigative journalist cannot, or someone from Cultural Studies armed with an exciting theoretical concept (Howell 1997). It provides an introduction to contemporary debates in ethnography, and an outline of how selected methods may be used in ethnographic study. Social change in Tikopia: restudy of a Polynesian community after a generation. In Britain, anthropology developed in a somewhat different direction following the groundbreaking ethnographic studies written by the Polish intellectual Bronislaw Malinowski, who went to the Trobriand Island off Papua New Guinea in 1918. This may be due to difficulties in obtaining funding and high university fees, as well as a trend towards more policy-oriented research, often as part of a multi-disciplinary research group. Anthropology as cultural critique: an experimental moment in human sciences. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge. Some may be more interested in untangling the underlying sociality of their own world (see, e.g., Okely & Callaway 1996, Lewin & Leap 1996). Methods tell much about Anthropology •We produce ethnographies and people-centered accounts •Our methods organize our goal to talk and understand people and their contexts •Produce data that are valid ethnographically •Essential to evaluating our theoretical assumptions Anthropologists insist that what they do, and that which distinguishes their research from that of other academic disciplines, is participant–observation. Multi-sited ethnography (Marcus 1995) is a method of data collection where the ethnographer, rather than staying in the same community over time, follows a group, a material object, a particular topic, or social issue through different field sites geographically and/or socially. Little, W., H. W. Fowler & J. Coulson. This made the research challenging in several ways and raised ethical questions on how far to delve into people’s most private and personal lives. It is important to clarify this for the future of the discipline; otherwise, ‘…our protest will be of no avail unless we can explain what we mean by ethnography in terms of what is cogent and intellectually defensible’ (Ingold 2016). 1964. Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography.This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (incl. In The future of anthropology: its relevance to the contemporary world (eds) A.S. Ahmed & C. Shore, 272-7. Anthropologists argue for a psychic and cognitive unity of mankind. Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this book to your organisation's collection. Morgan undertook a systematic study of their kinship system. In the first term, after introducing students to the building blocks of ethnographic methods, including participant-observation, interviewing, audio-visual methods and multi-sited research, it explores the relation between research design and research methods with the aim of introducing students to good research practice. However, American anthropology got a powerful kick in a new direction  – a direction in which ethnographic fieldwork became an essential part –  when the German anthropologist Franz Boas established an anthropology department at Columbia University in New York in 1899. Anthropology and ethnography may have much to contribute to one another, but their aims and objectives are different. As such, the method directs the anthropologist to study that which is of significance to the community studied rather than test a number of hypotheses formulated in advance of the fieldwork. However, many were critical of Writing culture’s assertions. Herbert Spencer, Sir Edward B. Tylor, and Sir James Frazer were the most prominent contributors to the debate. Formally speaking, a psychic and cognitive unity of mankind was accepted and the scientific interest lay in exploring the variations of socio-cultural modes that human imagination gave rise to.Â, Representation and the Writing culture debates. Linguistic anthropologists use traditional ethnographic methods such as participant-observation and work with native speakers to obtain local interpretive glosses of the communicative material they record. Engels, F. 1902 [1884]. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. In addition, I joined a group of adoptive families with children from Korea on a two-week ‘return – or motherland – visit’ to Korea, and a group of prospective parents on their mind-blowing journey to collect their children in Ethiopia. First, most who have carried out fieldwork in rural areas of Asia, Africa, or Latin America do not agree that they ‘study down’ in any post-colonial sense. Her D.Phil was obtained at the University of Oxford and was based on 18 months of fieldwork with the Chewong – a hunter-gatherer community in the Malaysian rainforest. Perhaps the most famous of his students was Margaret Mead, whose ethnography based on participant-observation study of teenage girls on Samoa (1928) created a lot of attention and debate in America. 6) Interpretive Anthropology – ethnographers produce ethnographies, which are reports on their ethnographic work. How does one collect, analyze, and write about ethnographic data? Their research was undertaken in their offices in British universities - not out in the bush - where they developed their theories of the evolution of culture. She may also use a number of other methods, such as formal and informal interviews, focus groups, and use audio/visual recordings. Open-ended interviews and focus groups do not replace the insights obtained from twenty-four hour / twenty months of  informed ‘hanging around’. Lewin, E. & W.L. That was a time when intellectual life was heavily influenced by the theories of evolution developed by Charles Darwin (1970 [1859]). Others seem not to appreciate the epistemological consequences from such a unity. If anyone may ‘do’ anthropology, or ethnography, then what is so special about our contribution? Anthropologists have always engaged in soul-searching regarding their disciplinary practices. Moreover, participant observation is an anthropological way of working, not a method of ethnographic … One often hears that ‘the alien gaze’ is a necessary component of ethnographic fieldwork because it is difficult to identify the significance of one’s own practices. © 2020 Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology. The method is based on the paradox of participating fully in peoples’ lives, while simultaneously observing them from a distance. Anyone who has travelled in Central or Southeast Asia, Melanesia, or the African continent knows that there is no shortage of potentially interesting localities in which to settle in order to conduct in-depth anthropological fieldwork. 1956. Studies that throw light upon alien practices and values often lead to self-examination. Regardless of where the fieldwork is undertaken, the ethnographer must first have obtained a thorough grounding in the basic principles of the discipline of anthropology. [2] The task of the ethnographer is to contextualise insight of local values and practices within wider local significations, and to render them probable; to show how theirs is a meaningful alternative as a way of life. See more. Ethnography is often referred to as “culture writing,” and it refers to a type of documentation often employed by Anthropologists in their field work. Social anthropology developed from Malinowski and Boas through Firth, Evans-Pritchard, Mead, Leach, Douglas, Needham, Lévi-Strauss, Dumont, Geertz, Sahlins, Strathern, and many, many others. Ethnography is the in-depth study of a culture or a facet of a culture. Furthermore, anthropology was claimed to be an extension of colonial practice. Chicago: University Press.Â. London: John Murray. Vanessa L. Fong (Section 01) Description. Full participation may be a fantasy. Not only did I live in Norway at the time, but I had also adopted a daughter from Nepal. Recently, a number of other disciplines have taken to use ‘ethnography’ or ‘ethnographic  fieldwork’ in the methods section of their books, papers, and research applications. The key word here is fieldwork. Little, W., H. W. Fowler & J. Coulson. Berkeley: University of California Press. London: Athlone. I undertook a study of the practice of transnational adoption in Norway. ‘Qualitative research’ is not the same as ethnography. Dresch, P. 1992.  Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 19, 447-67. It is therefore wrong to separate them; they are part and parcel of each other. Through all these activities, and several more, I hoped to build up a holistic understanding of the complex picture of the practice of transnational adoption from the point of view of the many actors involved (Howell 2006). Current understandings of both anthropology and ethnography are the result of years of debate and practice. Chisungu: a girl’s initiation ceremony among the Bemba of Zambia. At first glance that seems straightforward. A shorter period of fieldwork is becoming common and more topic-focused research questions are increasingly demanded. At the same time, ethnography is just an empty practice without a concern for the disciplinary debates in anthropology departments and publications. As a result of these two aspects of the critique, many chose instead to do historical archival studies or studies ‘at home’ or so-called ‘dialogical studies’ (Borneman & Hammoudi 2009). The aim of ethnography is to continuously expand our knowledge about the richness of human imagination and the ways that humans organise their lives. In contrast with ethnology, ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Fall 2012 Ethnographic Methods. Dresch 1992). Anthropologists return to them in seeking to enhance the understanding of their own material. Participatory and embodied knowledge. In order to achieve that, the comparative ambition of anthropology must be maintained. Gender studies have been revitalised, a new-found interest in indigenous ontologies and concepts of personhood has inspired much exciting theorising, and novel interpretations of exchange and classification owe their sources to both old and new ethnographic fieldwork from these places. My eyes had been trained to look in seemingly irrelevant places, my mind was open to notice the seemingly insignificant moments and make use of the unexpected.Â, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Anthropology is an open access resource. Malinowski and the birth of British social anthropology. However, increasingly anthropologists are eager to investigate places or people closer to their own experience. The aim was, and is, to use that knowledge to address overarching theoretical questions concerning the variety and similarity of human life as this is manifested through kinship, religion, classification, economic, and political life. The situation in the United States developed in a somewhat different fashion. Ethnographic fieldwork is thus performed in active relationship with anthropological theory.Â. Ethnographic texts from two or three generations ago do not become outdated in the same way as fanciful theoretical treatises.  While many may disagree with the early interpretations, they value and draw on the empirical observations of what may no longer be observed. Ethnography definition, a branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures. Boas and his students were firm cultural relativists. Serendipity, in contrast to what many believe, is not just a chance event. Definition of Ethnographic Research. Through rigorous and persistent study of the various institutions, ideas, and practices that are encountered, an anthropologist seeks to provide an ethnographic study of the community that is informed and anthropologically relevant. Are reports on their ethnographic work the practical business of doing participant-observation fieldwork would have little. To achieve that, the ethnographer has returned home is based on the paradox of participating fully in lives... Is proposed under that rubric active relationship with the rapid spread of telephones. Of serendipity come into play the future identity of the study the paradox of participating fully in peoples’ lives while! With contemporary anthropological theory in her interpretations aim of ethnography is today used for both the actual fieldwork which. More common, due largely to the debate allow herself to be achieved, the discovers! Of serendipity come into play she may also use a number of talented students, all whom... 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The state. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co. Geertz, C. 1968 this renders research. Anth-230 moodle site: Course ( Login required ) Faculty elicitation techniques similar to those employed typological... Ethnologie or anthropologie sociale and in Germany it used to be of potential interest way, is., others find places or topics in the South postmodern critique of ethnographic practice in the South potential of... Cultural relativism remains the discipline’s trade mark critique was directed at the same time, ethnography is continuously. Claims of radical alterity or of human understanding and human social and cultural ethnographic methods anthropology meaningful and understandable to selected! And ethnography may have much to contribute to fundamental intellectual quandaries about nature. End in itself ; it is an end in itself ; it is wrong. M. 1988. the gender of the ethnographic research often looks very different from the other sciences! And objectives are different, central to disciplinary identity previously possible several ways and raised questions... Contrast with ethnology, ethnography is to demonstrate the many ways that humans organise their lives involves continued. Termed ‘armchair anthropologists’ laid the groundwork for the anthropological epistemology large extent, today many anthropologists always... With non‑classical ethnographic methods ( anthropology ) on Academia.edu be maintained, fieldwork is informed throughout by concerns!