Ethnography

Term Paper # 109570

Ethnic Studies
Research Designs
Sociology

Ethnography

Examines the fundamental principles of ethnography and the challenges it encounters from an international perspective.

4,085 words () | 21 sources | APA | 2008

Paper Summary:

This paper defines ethnography as a systematic analytical tool that attempts to demystify the unfamiliar by taking up key positions in natural settings and recording one's findings through methods, such as participant observation. It adheres to a rigorous academic standard, which involves scrupulous data analysis from which a grounded theory may be induced to explain social phenomena. The paper describes methodologies used to discover culture through data collection and investigates the problems of reflexivity and ethics in this discipline.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Defining Ethnography
Naturalism: The "Magic Carpet" Takes Off
Understanding: Maturing from "Field Fool" to "Field Sage"
Participant Observation over a Prolonged Period of Time
Understanding the "Imponderabilia of Actual Life"
Adopting an Interpretative Approach
"Eureka": Discovering Culture through Data Collection
Apprehending the "Holy Grail" of Culture
Triangulation, Data Collection and Grounding a Theory
Reflexivity and Ethics
The Clash of Epistemologies
Cartesian Dualism: Natural versus Metaphysical.
Western Individualism as seen through the Lens of Indigenous Epistemologies
Ethnography Confronts "Indigeno-Centrism"
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Indigenous researchers, who often comprise the elite native intellectuals, have been accused of employing essentialist, bellicose rhetoric to polarize communities. It appears that they are just as guilty of pigeon-holing the vast diversity of the West into what was earlier called tableaux vivants. as a heuristic straw man to shadow-box with and demonize. When they accuse the West of being individualistic, self-reliant, averse to communal sharing and covetously materialistic, are they not engaging in stereotyping? It is legitimate to critique this attempt to indulge in what Gundara referred to as "the politics of recognition"."

Sample of Sources Used:

Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. Penguin, London.
Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods, Second Ed., Oxford University Press, New York.
Emerson, R. Fretz, R. Shaw, L (1995). Writing Ethnographic Notes. The University of Chicago, Chicago.
Foucault, M. (1991). Discipline and Punish. Penguin, London.
Geertz, C. (1988). Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author. Stanford University Press, California.