Essay on Cultural Anthropology and Ethnographic Fieldwork

The perception of foreign cultures can at times be quite peculiar. The article “Eating Christmas in Kalahari” by Richard Borshay Lee, foretells a classic example of cross culture misunderstanding when people from different cultures operate in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Richard Lee, a social anthropologist, explains what he learned living with the !Kung Bushmen, a South African tribe, for three years. This Gemeinschaft community of hunters-gatherers worked together to teach the anthropologist something important to their people, even though he was unaware of their intentions in the beginning.

Ethnographic methodology provides rich and complex data (Brownlow, 2012). In the ethnographic approach a researcher joined the studied group in their natural environment, stayed as a part

An anthropologist usually, at the beginning of their career, conduct ethnographic research in a foreign country or remote location to validate themselves as a “bonafide anthropologist” (Brondo 43). Eventually however, the anthropologist will return home often to conduct research around their own familiar ethnic group. Tsuda refers to the anthropologists return to familiar territory as an “Ethnographic homecoming” (Brondo 44). The use of ethnographic methods in the anthropologist’s home or familiar environment is what Tsuda means by “native anthropology”.

The purpose of this reading was to introduce what ethnography is and what exactly do anthropologists do. Ethnography is based on the fact that in order to fully understand a culture, it is best to observe the culture itself and to interact with them over a long period of time. The authors, Monaghan and Just, do fieldwork. Fieldwork is commonly done in small communities with very simplistic lifestyles so to say. In the first chapter, Peter Just did his fieldwork in the Village of Dorro Ntika. In order to be successful with this research, Peter had to build trust and create a good relationship with the people of the native tribe. Meaning Peter was able to learn well beyond the superficial facts. To be an ethnographer one must commit to years

Working in the field as a cultural anthropologist requires participant observation, interviews, and observation. (Knight) The etic and emic-orientated styles are two different styles that applied anthropologists use in their field work. The etic-orientated approach is a perspective that in ethnography uses concepts and categories for the anthropologists culture to describe another culture. (Ferraro/Andretta) The emic-orientated approach is a viewpoint in ethnography that uses the concepts and categories that are relevant and meaningful to the culture under analysis (Ferraro/Andreatta). There has been much debate on whether the etic or emic-orientated techniques of research should be used in the field. Cultural

Exploring different cultures as well as your own in order to understand the various ways they do things compared to our own can be enlightening as well as challenging. The main challenge comes from being used to your own culture that it is difficult to view a different culture without any personal bias. Being born and raised in a culture and getting used to those norms of everyday life contributes to the bias that one may show, believing that their own culture is superior to another. This type of thought process is called ethnocentrism. But with the use of an etic and emic approach to analyze your own culture and different cultures will help eliminate ethnocentrism. Using an outsider’s

The title for the position itself expresses the need for a focus on qualitative methods, which as stated above has been greatly crafted through the combination of tools and methods learned in the discipline. The section, Primary Purpose, calls even further for a need of expertise in qualitative and mixed method research. Regarding quantitative methods, anthropologists would likely develop these skills, perhaps not to a similar level of expertise as those of qualitative methods. However, by using a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods it would not be a major weakness in this context as expertise in qualitative methods can support those in quantitative. As the primary purpose, it is clear that this strength of anthropology is the most fundamental within this context. It is with this skill that they would find a great deal of success, if they are able to surpass the challenge of communication and interpersonal connection as will be discussed

The role of the reflexive ethnographer has been constantly defined and redefined since the beginning of the study of anthropology. The use of reflexivity has and will always be questioned in anthropology. Malinowski, who was a pioneer in the field of anthropology, discouraged the use of reflexivity; he, instead, believed that anthropology was scientific and could produce “concrete evidence” (Malinowski 17).

"representation" "fieldwork" and "culture?" To what extent is the author you have chosen sensitive to issues of representation? What do we learn about her fieldwork from the article? How does she approach culture?

Modern anthropology has come a long way when comparing it to the 19th and 20th century armchair anthropology. Instead of a laid back approach it has become more hands on. To properly study and observe another culture there are steps an anthropologist must take. One, understand what you are trying to accomplish out of this and what your goal is. Secondly, the ethnographer should put themselves in “good conditions of work” (Malinowski 1922:6). This meaning that he/she should live among the native’s with no interruptions from outsiders. Thirdly, the ethnographer must be able to explain all data that was collected. In order to not get a biased view an ethnographer must be trained. We cannot have “untrained minds, unaccustomed to formulate their thoughts with any degree of consistency and precision… full of the biased and prejudged opinions inevitable in the average man” (Malinowski 1922:5).

Traditionally, ethnographic works had always been about objective studies of the “other.” The discipline attempts to use non-biased methods to research of our subjects to qualify anthropology into the category of science. However, an increasing number of anthropologists begin to question the existence of objectivity in fieldwork. More recently, some anthropologists advocate the incorporation of the self, or the use of reflexivity, in the research to acknowledge our biases; at the same time, enhance the quality of our ethnographies. Others further assert that reflexivity is the only way to complete ethnographies. These propositions prompted concerns and provoked intense criticisms among scholars

Cultural anthropology is a social science that studies the origins and development of human societies (History World International, 2001). Many theories to explain cultural variations among humans have emerged. As a result, numerous anthropological schools of thought have been established based on these theories since the nineteenth century. These schools of thought encompass the dominant beliefs about culture during a time period and are constantly changing as new knowledge is acquired. As schools of thought develop, ethnographic methods have changed and developed as well. Fieldwork is an ethnographic method that has been implemented in all anthropological schools of thought. It involves gathering data and information about a specific

In anthropology, guidelines must be followed when conducting and collecting research in order to prevent biases, ethnocentric ideas, and prejudices. The anthropological methodology of conducting research is primarily

Ethnocentrism, as defined by the OSU Department of Anthropology, is “an attitude that is centered on one’s own culture, values, and ways of acting and thinking …[and] may lead to unfair criticism of other cultures” (Rosenburger 8). Ethnocentrism is a natural response for people who experience or become immersed in a culture where values, customs, and shared practices are different from their own. It is the difficulty or inability to understand other ways of acting, thinking, or feeling; when one cannot process the understanding of others attitudes within a cultural context. Each culture has values – important beliefs and moral natures that underlie the influences of the interaction through history and current social, ethnic, or regional groups. Some may even participate in various cultures at one time or over time. Cultures may, and often, have underlying conflicts within them and will almost always change as time goes on and new generations form. Every culture is unique. They have symbols or material items that hold special value to the culture that often hold a deeper meaning that is only embodied by those who are a part of the culture (Rosenburger 7,8). Ethnocentrism also plays a large role in the studies of cultural Anthropology.

The ethnomusicologist, on the other hand, is himself (and more and more, herself) a collector as well as an analyst. The model of collection, however, was not that of earlier scholars like Cecil Sharp, Percy Grainger or Bela Bartok. Rather than ranging widely, but quickly, across a broad region, the ethnomusicologist was supposed to gather materials through 'participant-observation'. Instead of gathering recordings alone, the ethnomusicological researcher gathered experience, both in the form of