Preview

Ethnology and Ethnography

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1976 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ethnology and Ethnography
Word Count:
Dana Trippe
Anthropology Essay #2
10/1/2012
There are two major approaches to collecting information about human culture: ethnography and ethnology. Each approach has a specific goal. Each approach employs a variety of methods for data collection and analysis, all of which carry benefits but also challenges. Along with the challenges of data collection, field anthropologists face an additional set of logistical, emotional, and ethical obstacles. Anthropology is a difficult field but provides an important perspective on cultural diversity.
Ethnography and Ethnology both attempt at reaching certain goals. Ethnography is a written description of a culture based on data gathered from fieldwork, characterized by two methods, participant observation and interviews. When an anthropologist is researching through participant observation, they are attempting to study a culture while still trying to maintain the eye of an objective observer. Another form of getting data for ethnography is through interviews. Through interviews, either formal or informal, the anthropologist is attempting to gather and collect notable data. Formal interviews are more scripted and reduce the situational bias the anthropologists may experience. Informal interviews are more open ended questions that allow the informant to talk about what they think is more important in their culture. These interviews can help paint a more actual description of culture of what their beliefs and lifestyles are, instead of an "ideal culture". Sterk stated that the interviewer becomes much more involved in the interview when conversations are in-depth, more than when a structured questionnaire is being used (Sterk 2000: 27). Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct contact with the culture, ethnology takes the research that ethnographers have compiled and then compares and contrasts different cultures. Ethnology is the comparative study of cultures with the aim of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In his 1920 essay on the “The Methods of Ethnology,” Franz Boas clearly made the case for human societies’ dynamism and the need to study history and change. Thus, recognition of this fact arose early in the history of anthropology and ethnography, but it did not become central to general practice until later.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ethnographic authority is a useful concept. Examining the structure and authority of ethnographic theory and practice helps one to gaze, with a critical eye, upon the field of knowledge that is being handed down. Before assimilating new knowledge, it is important to question the premises of that knowledge to gauge its validity. In the case of anthropology, we have clearly seen that ideas commonly held and thought to be valid at one time don’t always stand the test of time.…

    • 2858 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Midterm Study Guide

    • 2652 Words
    • 11 Pages

    * Also known as social or Sociocultural anthropology, it is the study of specific contemporary cultures, and the more general underlying patterns of human culture derived through cultural comparisons…

    • 2652 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assignment 3 Anthropology

    • 1269 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Answer: Ethnographic research is different from other social science approaches to research because it goes more in depth. With an ethnographic research you are required to eat, sleep, and breath what is being studied. In order to get a better understanding you will need to incorporate such living (as that of the culture being studied) into your life. It’s more of a research to gain the knowledge of a current situation as oppose to something that has happened in the past. For example Sterk was researching prostitution. She followed the lives of many prostitutes and encountered their pimps, customers and even drug dealers. She bonded with some of them to get a better understanding on their everyday life. Where as some other social science research involve digging up old artifacts in order to know what already occurred before our time.…

    • 1269 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ethnographic Paper

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Arriving at the Jehovah’s Witness meeting I was very nervous about what was to come. I knew that nothing radical was going to happen, there was going to be now speaking in tongues, or dramatic rituals, but because I knew I was entering into a different belief something just did not feel right. Although the feeling of the meeting was not exactly comfortable, I learned a lot from my observations. On Thursday March 21, 2013 I attended a Bible study and theocratic ministry session at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness in Marion.…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My Ethnography Exercises

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages

    For Part 2 of my Ethnography exercise, I chose to go to the Village Tavern in Carol Stream. I was with my family each time I went there. The main reason I chose to tell about my experience and observation there is that I didn’t think anybody else would choose this and my family’s interactions with the people and staff there were different each time.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ethnography Proposal

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In my ethnography I'm going to study a coffeehouse chain, such as Starbucks. I will be observing as well as socializing in attempt to compare and contrast multiple characteristics one must have to face in working in such an environment. At Starbucks the Baristas must have a genuine upbeat personality to each customer. I would like to study a locally owned coffee house as well to compare the different environments and how one might keep a small business afloat when we have such large chains. I will be observing the interactions that the Barista have with each customer and how he/she will handle that customer.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    For this exercise I took about ninety photos over the course of an hour and a half, attempting to portray some of the happenings at the 9/11 Memorial. Out of all the photos, I chose these four because they display how expansive the memorial is, in terms of meaning and significance. Some of my other photos are interesting and portray many of the elements I am interested in, however, these few stuck out and seemed unique from the rest, further adding to my ethnographic research. Although, it should be noted that all four do involve similar themes of what constitutes ‘space’ and ‘interaction.’ The pictures depict other ways of interacting with the memorial that I did not initially conceptualize as such and added new scopes of determining the…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the semester, I was not aware of what certain things I would be learning about in Intro to Anthropology. I didn’t even know what anthropology was and was just taking it to fill my pre-requisites requirement. Now that the class is coming to an end, I realized that I learned so much about my culture, self, and my community that I was unaware of before. There were …topics that I thought deeply about and realized that I can really relate to race, language, the book…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethnographic Fieldwork

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Humans are naturally biased, we try to find comparisons with new situations and contrast them to our own environments. Ethnographic fieldwork involves, in a certain sense, dissociating from the comforts of our own cultures in order to immerse ourselves in the “comforts” of another. There are benefits and obstacles to this hands on course of field work. First, as stated above, Humans are biased. We will almost certainly hold our own cultural values as a standard, to which the culture we are studying will he held to. This can lead to a skewed collection of data, and an Etic viewpoint. Researchers will almost always have some degree of Etic in their conclusion in their research, but should devote the majority of research to keeping an Emic perspective, Finding that Emic perspective can be hard, as immersing yourself into a culture involves gaining the trust of the community you're trying to study. The…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Personal Ethnography

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Growing up, I was never told much about my birth, only that I was large. I was raised in a single parent household and I was pushed out into the world to develop and learn many different things about life. Being born in the 90s, I would have thought more diverse worldwide events would have occurred. While researching the date I was born and the various years, I found quite a bit of criminal activity involved in the articles I found. Although my birth was the happiest day for some, it was possibly the worst day for others.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    *When I chose Sociology as my major there were many things going on in my life. Around that time I was considering dropping my degree in Information Technology and school all together. For a good portion of my life I never could have imagined myself being a college student. In fact I did not wish to be a student. I only became a student because Georgia Military College was offering free tuition for students freshly out of highschool. That just so happened to fit my description at the time. So I signed up despite not having any degree or career in mind. I never expected to actually enjoy learning so much especially the liberal studies. I ended up continuing past the 1st free semester because I was enjoying all my studies. It always occurred…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethnomusicology

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The ‘Program Jejak Bakat UiTM’ is a programme that was organized by UiTM Music Faculty. The purpose of this event is to promote Music Faculty and encourage students especially Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) graduates to apply for music course in UiTM. The target school is mostly school with music subjects offered in the school. So, for this event the school chosen to cooperate is SMK Seri Jementah and SMK Bandar Putra, both were in Segamat Johor. SMK Seri Jementah for is new in music subject in school, as the school introduced music subject in late 2010. So it is perfect for Music Faculty to promote music to gain interest from students in this early state. SMK Bandar Putra on the other hand already has a Music Club and has a marching band. So they can be persuaded to continue their music studies in higher education at UiTM. This event last for two days, the first day at SMK Seri Jementah While the second day continued at SMK Bandar Putra.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition to my own somewhat bewildering experience, I’ve also heard students speculate about ethnographic research after reading a classic ethnography conducted in an exotic locale or a more recent ethnography conducted in a classroom or neighborhood somewhere in the US. But all too often, they are enticed by the lure of…

    • 8720 Words
    • 35 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ethnography in Marketing

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ethnography is defined as a branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures. Anthropology meaning the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. Anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski and Margaret Mead are often identified as important players in the beginning of the professional field of ethnography. Malinowski’s first work was done in the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia in 1915 and Mead’s first fieldwork was done in Samoa in 1925 (2013). However, Mead’s work in Samoa has now been questioned due to work done by Derek Freeman who studied Western Samoa in the early 1940s and mid-1960s (Weiner, 1983). Regardless, Mead contributed a lot to ethnography and is still considered credible to many ethnographers. Ethnography began as a study to learn about human nature, social affiliation, and the conduct of daily life (Mariampolski, 2006). Groups are typically studied in ethnography but individuals have been studied as well. Ethnography is a form of qualitative research that is subject-centered and a way to understand subjects on their own terms. It involves interacting with people in their natural settings to understand them better. When subjects are researched this way the form is typically less structured. It is not laboratory based and subjects are more comfortable in areas they are already familiar with. Ethnography relies on participation as well as observation by researchers. In this method called participant-observation, researchers must be able to participate in an activity and understand the perspective of the individuals being studied as well as observe the subjects to be able to describe them to those not a part of the group being studied. It can be difficult in that some individuals can have different experiences from others because of influences such as biases. A researcher might be repelled by their subjects, while others…

    • 1691 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays