While there is no international standard on Ethnographic Ethics, many western anthropologists look to the American Anthropological Association for guidance when conducting ethnographic work. This can … For post-colonial critiques of ethnography from various locations, see essays in Prem Poddar et al, American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.2, American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.1-8, American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.2-3, American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.4, American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.5, American Anthropology Association Code of Ethics, p.5-6, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://time.com/5568815/amazon-workers-listen-to-alexa/, "Tapping Into Community Funds of Knowledge", "Lynda Barry: The answer is in the picture", "Writing Ethnographies that Ordinary People Can Read", http://www.ignytebrands.com/customer-research/, http://www.aaanet.org/issues/policy-advocacy/upload/AAA-Ethics-Code-2009.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2016.1249823, "Being one of the guys or the fly on the wall? Observe the world from the point of view of the subject, while maintaining the distinction between everyday and scientific perceptions of reality. A final hazard inherent in ethnographic fieldwork is the ever-present possibility of cultural change produced by or resulting from the ethnographer’s presence in the group. In this process also the anthropologist risks the danger of biased viewpoints, as those who most willingly act as informants frequently are individuals who are marginal to the group and who, for ulterior motives (e.g., alienation from the group or a desire to be singled out as special by the foreigner), may provide other than objective explanations of cultural and social phenomena. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. "Analyzing Narrative Reality." Only by comparison, generalisation, and analysis can we use these extremely local findings to reach general conclusions about humanity. Since 1940 there has been a…. Urban sociology, Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University), and the Chicago School, in particular, are associated with ethnographic research, with some well-known early examples being The Philadelphia Negro (1899) by W. E. B. post-modern ethnographies. ", Gary Alan Fine argues that the nature of ethnographic inquiry demands that researchers deviate from formal and idealistic rules or ethics that have come to be widely accepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches in research. [16] These informants are typically asked to identify other informants who represent the community, often using snowball or chain sampling. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Essentially, Fine maintains that researchers are typically not as ethical as they claim or assume to be — and that "each job includes ways of doing things that would be inappropriate for others to know".[43]. Cultural and social anthropologists today place a high value on doing ethnographic research. Research can range from an objectivist account of fixed, observable behaviors to an interpretive narrative describing "the interplay of individual agency and social structure. [30] Along with the development of experimental forms such as 'dialogic anthropology,' 'narrative ethnography,'[31] and 'literary ethnography',[32] Writing Culture helped to encourage the development of 'collaborative ethnography. (Dewan M. (2018) Understanding Ethnography: An 'Exotic' Ethnographer's Perspective. Ethnographic studies typically gather participant observations and interviews; through using these methods ethnographers can immerse themselves in settings and can generate rich understanding of the social action that occurs As the purpose of ethnography is to describe and interpret the shared and learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing group, Harris, (1968), also Agar (1980) note that ethnography is both a process and an outcome of the research. New York: Oxford University Press. ‘The ethnography of the first part of the book, while a contribution in its own right, provides background for the second part.’ ‘Her ethnography is the result of more than a decade of fieldwork done in the 1990s in one of Rio's urban shantytown communities.’ ABSTRACT. "The friendly ethnographer" – Ethnographers operate under the assumption that they should not dislike anyone. Resources Example Using meta ethnography to synthesise qualitative research: a worked example - this paper demonstrates the benefits of using meta ethnography using Noblit and Hare’s seven-step process for conducting a meta ethnography. Mannik, L., & McGarry, K. (2017). [1] Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. 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. Ethnography definition, a branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures. [11], In ethnography, the researcher gathers what is available, what is normal, what it is that people do, what they say, and how they work. Digital ethnography is also seen as virtual ethnography. A typical ethnography attempts to be holistic[4][5] and typically follows an outline to include a brief history of the culture in question, an analysis of the physical geography or terrain inhabited by the people under study, including climate, and often including what biological anthropologists call habitat. Another form of data collection is that of the "image." Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. This became known as "ethnography," following the introduction of the Greek neologism ethnographia by Johann Friedrich Schöpperlin and the German variant by A. F. Thilo in 1767. [40] Companies make increasing use of ethnographic methods to understand consumers and consumption, or for new product development (such as video ethnography). Ethnography definition is - the study and systematic recording of human cultures; also : a descriptive work produced from such research. Formally, ethnography begins with social anthropology , as the heir of this European interest in the exotic and distant world of the East (particularly), or of the surviving American aboriginal cultures . Ethnography is a means not an end. Wiley. Ybema et al. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/science/ethnography, ethnography - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). That is, the ethnographer cannot escape the personal viewpoint in creating an ethnographic account, thus making any claims of objective neutrality highly problematic, if not altogether impossible. There has been some confusion regarding the terms ethnography and ethnology. The results are products and services that respond to consumers' unmet needs. Symbolic interactionism developed from the same tradition and yielded such sociological ethnographies as Shared Fantasy by Gary Alan Fine, which documents the early history of fantasy role-playing games. [2] Ethnography is also a type of social research involving the examination of the behaviour of the participants in a given social situation and understanding the group members' own interpretation of such behaviour.[3]. While detailed notes are still a mainstay of fieldwork, ethnographers have taken full advantage of technological developments such as motion pictures and tape recorders to augment their written accounts. [16] This process is often effective in revealing common cultural denominators connected to the topic being studied. Secondary research and document analysis are also used to provide insight into the research topic. Ember and Ember 2006, op cit., Chapters 7 and 8, Erickson & Murphy (2008). [29] In regards to this last point, Writing Culture became a focal point for looking at how ethnographers could describe different cultures and societies without denying the subjectivity of those individuals and groups being studied while simultaneously doing so without laying claim to absolute knowledge and objective authority. Ethnography is a qualitative research method which involves a detailed study of a particular cultural group. Beginning with the age of exploration and continuing into the early 20th century, detailed accounts of non-European peoples were rendered by European traders, missionaries, and, later, colonial administrators. On Ethnography. Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences. Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein's (1997) monograph, The New Language of Qualitative Method, discusses forms of ethnography in terms of their "methods talk. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Therefore, it is unethical for a researcher to report fairness in findings. [45] In 2009 the Association adopted a code of ethics, stating: Anthropologists have "moral obligations as members of other groups, such as the family, religion, and community, as well as the profession". a practice as well as its context is explained so that it becomes meaningful to the reader. "Ethnography." Updates? Max Müller, often called the “Father of the history of religions,” stated that “Particularly in the early history of the human intellect,... Margaret Mead standing between two Samoan women, c. 1926. Where focus groups fail to inform marketers about what people really do, ethnography links what people say to what they do—avoiding the pitfalls that come from relying only on self-reported, focus-group data. Today, ethnography is a common approach in various social science fields, not just anthropology. "The honest ethnographer" – If research participants know the research goals, their responses will likely be skewed. It had its origin in social and cultural anthropology in the early twentieth century, but spread to other social science disciplines, notably sociology, during the course of that century. Ethnography is also a type of social research involving the examination of the behaviour of the participants in a given social situation and understanding the group members' own interpretation of such behaviour. Cultural anthropology and social anthropology were developed around ethnographic research and their canonical texts, which are mostly ethnographies: e.g. The typical ethnography is a holistic study[4][5] and so includes a brief history, and an analysis of the terrain, the climate, and the habitat. Famous examples include Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight by Clifford Geertz, Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco by Paul Rabinow, The Headman and I by Jean-Paul Dumont, and Tuhami by Vincent Crapanzano. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1986). [25] Rites, rituals, and other evidence of religion have long been an interest and are sometimes central to ethnographies, especially when conducted in public where visiting anthropologists can see them.[26]. It is used no… Using language or community boundaries to bound the ethnography is common. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction (4th edition). Modern anthropologists usually identify the establishment of ethnography as a professional field with the pioneering work of both the Polish-born British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia (c. 1915) and the American anthropologist Margaret Mead, whose first fieldwork was in Samoa (1925). "Analyzing Field Reality." They engage in the opposite of plagiarism, giving undeserved credit through loose interpretations and paraphrasing. The identity that we present to subjects is different from who we are in other circumstances. Ethnographic research can range from a realist perspective, in which behavior is observed, to a constructivist perspective where understanding is socially constructed by the researcher and subjects. ethnographies as texts, or literary creations, entirely constructed. The Ethnographic Praxis in Industry (EPIC) conference is evidence of this. Erickson, Ken C. and Donald D. Stull (1997). Ruth Fulton Benedict uses examples of Enthrotyhy in her serious of field work that began in 1922 of Serrano, of the Zuni in 1924, the Cochiti in 1925 and the Pina in 1926. Modern developments in computing power and AI have enabled higher efficiencies in ethnographic data collection via multimedia and computational analysis using machine learning to corroborate many data sources together to produce a refined output for various purposes. See more. Ethnography is the disciplined process of observation and a reflexive interpretation by the fieldworker upon his/her experience as an outsider participating in the social and cultural activity of the society under observation. Olaf Zenker & Karsten Kumoll. As ethnographers' skills in observation and collection of data vary by individual, what is depicted in ethnography can never be the whole picture. Learn more. Contemporary ethnographies usually adhere to a community, rather than individual, focus and concentrate on the description of current circumstances rather than historical events. It's one of the best ways to identify areas of friction and improve overall user experience. [24] Practices of child rearing, acculturation, and emic views on personality and values usually follow after sections on social structure. 190-191. By studying the culture between the different Pueblo and Plain Indians, She discovered the culture isomorphism that would be considered her personalized unique approach to the study of anthropology using ethnographic techniques. Ethnography is a research method central to knowing the world from the standpoint of its social relations. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. [36] Often this type of research results in a case study or field study such as an analysis of speech patterns at a protest rally, or the way firemen communicate during "down time" at a fire station. Another approach to ethnography in sociology comes in the form of institutional ethnography, developed by Dorothy E. Smith for studying the social relations which structure people's everyday lives. Beginning in the 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bio-confessional" ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Salvador, Tony; Genevieve Bell; and Ken Anderson (1999). Jaber F. Gubrium's series of organizational ethnographies focused on the everyday practices of illness, care, and recovery are notable. The tools of the ethnographer have changed radically since Malinowski’s time. Then, he sought to determine in what contexts winks were used, and whether, as one moved about a region, winks remained meaningful in the same way. In his fieldwork, Geertz used elements of a phenomenological approach, tracing not just the doings of people, but the cultural elements themselves. thick description. [13] Multiple methods of data collection may be employed to facilitate a relationship that allows for a more personal and in-depth portrait of the informants and their community. A written report based on this type of detailed observation of a community is also referred to as an ethnography. This page was last edited on 18 January 2021, at 20:24. These can include participant observation, field notes, interviews, and surveys. Effectively, the idea of the image is a primary tool for ethnographers to collect data. Traditional ethnography may use videos or images, but digital ethnography goes more in-depth. "The Candid Ethnographer" – Where the researcher personally situates within the ethnography is ethically problematic. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and everyday life of the people who are the subject of his study. Du Bois, Street Corner Society by William Foote Whyte and Black Metropolis by St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton, Jr.. Major influences on this development were anthropologist Lloyd Warner, on the Chicago sociology faculty, and to Robert Park's experience as a journalist. For example, if within a group of people, winking was a communicative gesture, he sought to first determine what kinds of things a wink might mean (it might mean several things). In addition to the technique of participant-observation, the contemporary ethnographer usually selects and cultivates close relationships with individuals, known as informants, who can provide specific information on ritual, kinship, or other significant aspects of cultural life. Ethnography, descriptive study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study. [46] The eight-page code of ethics outlines ethical considerations for those conducting Research, Teaching, Application and Dissemination of Results, which are briefly outlined below.[47]. What is ethnography? The physical entity that is the novel contains a specific image in the perspective of the interpreting individual and can only be expressed by the individual in the terms of "I can tell you what an image is by telling you what it feels like. Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviours, and perceptions that occur within teams, organisations, and communities. [45] The code of ethics recognizes that sometimes very close and personal relationship can sometimes develop from doing ethnographic work. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, ethnographic research methods began to be widely used by communication scholars. Preece, J., Sharp, H., & Rogers, Y. 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