Ethnography: Studying Culture

• Approximately 75 % of the essay should refer to specific examples (cultural case studies) and issues raised in the text reading “Chapter 3” and assigned documentary (if applicable).

• Approximately 25 % of the essay should refer briefly to instructor commentary, but also focus on the presentation of your personal perspective on this issue raised by the question.

Instructor Commentary:
“Chapter Four- Ethnography – Studying Culture”
As I conducted fieldwork with Chicanos in the “the system” (vernacular for the institutions of incarceration) I found that I did not experience the “culture shock” of an alien way of life, but instead I experienced the more unsettling shock of the realities of my OWN society. I came to know “the system” without the conditioned security of a comfort zone afforded by “educated” background.

Chapter Four introduces the topic of ethnographic fieldwork by focusing on a similar experience by anthropologist Philippe Bourgeois among “crack” dealers in East Harlem. As ethnographers, we both entered into communities vastly different than our own in order to understand from the perspective of community members how reality is understood and negotiated in patterned cultural ways. Please note that while Bourgois and I may have entered apparent similar communities, the result of our research is quite different as you will see later in the course when I present the result of my own research with Chicanos in the penitentiary.

The practice of ethnography defines the field methodology used by cultural anthropologists to document cultural lifeways. Chapter Four acts as a guide or a field manual on how to conduct ethnographic field research. And this is precisely how you should regard this chapter: as field guide which will familiarize you with the various techniques, methods, conceptual orientations, and ethical principles needed to conduct research in the field. At this point, I must caution you that, as students in an introductory class, you are not prepared to actually conduct research. (Review the criteria for development of your Ethnographic Methods Research Paper on your course homepage!) Therefore, the topics in Chapter four will serve as a field manual for you to explore an ethnographic technique rather than to conduct ethnographic research.

However, I do note some “red flags” in this chapter and so I will take the opportunity of this commentary to offer my own critical analysis, based on established anthropological literature, of ONE of the issues raised by the authors of your text. Can you find others? I will then offer ONE insight into the practice of fieldwork derived from my own experience as a cultural anthropologist conducting ethnographic research.

Red Flag – Fieldwork in an American Mall.
The authors of your text present the “research” conducted by an anthropologist in an American shopping mall. The context (the mall) is considered a valid and interesting place for an anthropologist to conduct research and the techniques of observation are also considered appropriate ethnographic skills. The problem is that anthropologist conducting the fieldwork (Underhill) is documenting this information for purposes of marketing and NOT cross-cultural understanding within the theoretical framework of anthropology. This example, instead, is a case of a corporate client using ethnographic skills for purposes of manipulating a population in relation to the objective of marketing. This example is particularly ironic in relation to the strong cautionary tone used later in your chapter when the authors of your text discuss the controversies associated with the use of anthropologist for spying and war. The authors of your text discuss the controversy surrounding the American Anthropological Association’s condemnation of the Human Terrain System adopted by the military in Iraq. Yes, read this carefully! A red flag raises the question of WHY ethnographic methodologies cannot be used for military purposes, but then can be used be used for cooperate activity of manipulating a market?

Insight – The Role of Serendipity
When reading Chapter Four it may seem that the ethnographer has a virtual armory of techniques and principles that can be packed up and taken into ” the field.” Once unpacked and utilized, the documentation of culture just happens. Sound easy? Sound ordered? It is not! Even a rigorous knowledge of field techniques and anthropological theory will never completely prepare you for a real-life situation in the field. The actions of humans can never fully be predicted. Your field techniques can even be a hindrance if you do not have the “snap” as the Chicanos would say, to be aware and observant of your situation.

My own experience, both as an archaeologist and as an ethnographer has taught me that serendipity, is the right place at the right time in ways that could never have been foreseen, much less planned,, has been more vital as opening to cultural knowledge than any carefully calculated interview, or correct placement in a cultural event. At some point, each ethnographer will have to give way to the flow of the field situation and trust that this flow, documented with the use of techniques will eventually carry you to what is established as important, not to anthropology, but to the people who direct this flow of knowledge. Make sense? Have your plans even gone so awry that you prospered in ways never anticipated? If so, welcome to anthropology!

Question:
Ethnography, the practice of “doing fieldwork,” is the source for cross-cultural theories that comprise the discipline of cultural anthropology. Methodological techniques fill the toolkit that ethnographers take to the field. As a student, you are not yet ready to go into the field, but you may prepare for this further opportunity by exploring field techniques and studying the experiences of key ethnographers in the history of cultural anthropology.

First, you reach into your toolkit (Chapter Four) and examine the importance of ONE aspect form the subtitle Fieldwork, ONE from the list of other methods described in Aside From Participant Observation and Interviews, and ONE of this issues raised by the subtitle What Special Ethical Dilemmas Do Ethnographers Face? While exploring these issues, ponder the subject of the Ethnographic Methods Research paper that will be completed later in the term.

And….

Second, reflect upon the ethnography of Margaret Mead. Discuss ONE issue raised by her career that you think is important to understand for a student getting ready to conduct fieldwork.

Margaret Mead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2FhWyulpb8&index=49&list=PL9pXrgCr7kIyCPZlytBj64Tlen90YF3fk

• Chapter 4 ” is uploaded in files as ebook”

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