Again, ‘savage and exotic’ beliefs and practices were the focus for their studies, but they were analyzed in sociological terms, unlike the British and Americans (see below) who tended to look to the individual actor. This raises the question of what insights anthropologists can provide that a clever investigative journalist cannot, or someone from Cultural Studies armed with an exciting theoretical concept (Howell 1997). The following is a useful definition of ethnography: ‘the recording and analysis of a culture or society, usually based on participant-observation and resulting in a written account of a people, place or institution’ (Simpson & Coleman 2017). In addition, I joined a group of adoptive families with children from Korea on a two-week ‘return – or motherland – visit’ to Korea, and a group of prospective parents on their mind-blowing journey to collect their children in Ethiopia.  Argonauts of the Western Pacific. I supervised students doing fieldwork in Colombia and Brazil and in orphanages in China and in India. [1] This is how anthropologists understand the world. Anthropology as a discipline without participant-observation fieldwork would have very little to offer the academic world, or the general public. Only through familiarity with local values and practices will the magic of serendipity come into play. Boas and his students were firm cultural relativists. In other words, qualitative research is a study using a naturalistic approach to finding and discovering the Pangertian or understanding of phenomena in a specific context. The ethnographer always engages with contemporary anthropological theory in her interpretations. The anthropologist’s antennas must be at work all the time in order to pick up the unstated and the taken-for-granted, as well as tensions and conflicts, all of which must be brought to bear on the analysis of the bigger whole. Despite their important theoretical differences, they had one thing in common: a commitment, through ethnographic fieldwork, to explore social, cultural, cognitive, and moral forms of life in places far from home – geographically and culturally. Perhaps that is the answer? The principles that Malinowski identified apply today as much as then. Ingold, T. 2016. However close one gets to the people one studies, the anthropologist and the people know that she is not a real member of the group and that she will leave after one or two years; that her world is very different from theirs. On Ethnographic Methods “Ethnographic fieldwork is an extended period of close involvement with the people whose way of life interests the anthropologist” (Lavenda & Schultz:247) Participant Observation: principle method for fieldwork Today, the latter is the more common, due largely to the ease of modern means of travel. It is a methodological term independent of place. London: Allen & Unwin. These demands are met through two major research techniques: participant observation … Multi-temporal fieldwork enables the ethnographer to follow the community through times of change, and to record their reactions to outside influences – economic, technological, and social – that challenge old values and practices. History of ethnographic methods Ethnography has its origins in social anthropology, and in particular, the work of Malinowski whose seminal text Argonauts of the Western Pacific describes his experience of living for a long time with South Pacific islanders, and counsels the anthropologist to spend at least a year in the field, to learn the language, and to live as one of the population which he or she studies. Methods tell much about Anthropology •We produce ethnographies and people-centered accounts •Our methods organize our goal to talk and understand people and their contexts •Produce data that are valid ethnographically •Essential to evaluating our theoretical assumptions Marcus, G. 1995. Out in the field: reflection of lesbian and gay anthropologists. As noted above, in order to perform good ethnographic fieldwork in ‘modern’ settings, it can be an advantage to have undertaken fieldwork in an alien small-scale society first (see endnote v). They are rarely in a position to influence anything, even should they wish to do so. Malinowski subsequently became a professor of social anthropology at the London School of Economics where he inspired a number of students, many of whom became central figures in the anthropology departments in British universities. This made the research challenging in several ways and raised ethical questions on how far to delve into people’s most private and personal lives. Vanessa L. Fong (Section 01) Description. To many inside and outside anthropology, policy-oriented research may today seem more ideologically correct, more useful and relevant in a rapidly changing world, than simply setting off for the Highlands of New Guinea. London: Athlone. Ethnographic fieldwork used to be more open-ended than it is today, when increasingly anthropologists go to the field with a particular research question in mind. Increasingly, however, the distinction between the two is coming to be … Cultural anthropology is the root of the ethnographic roots of education. It is important to clarify this for the future of the discipline; otherwise, ‘…our protest will be of no avail unless we can explain what we mean by ethnography in terms of what is cogent and intellectually defensible’ (Ingold 2016). Berkeley: University of California Press. Clifford, J. Through a holistic investigation in which patterns of behavior, utterances, and actions are contextualised and placed in relation to each other, a world view[4] may be detected: ideas about human nature, gender, family, economy, politics and religion become discernible. Primitive culture. Boas argued that in-depth long-term field research was essential for an understanding of alien cultures and went to study the Kwakiutl society on the Pacific Northwest coast (1966) over a period of more than twenty years during the first part of the twentieth century. In France one talks of ethnologie or anthropologie sociale and in Germany it used to be Völkerkunde. Participant-observation is far from a straightforward or generally agreed upon project. New York: William Morrow & Co. Morgan, L.H. Ethnography is a qualitative research method that seeks to understand cultural phenomena that reflect the knowledge and meanings that guide the life of cultural groups within their own environment. 1890. Nevertheless, it is the method that identifies the discipline. First, most who have carried out fieldwork in rural areas of Asia, Africa, or Latin America do not agree that they ‘study down’ in any post-colonial sense. Tylor, E.B. But it is an illusion that is necessary in order to achieve the insights that are sought. Students in the Class of 2021 who are already enrolled will be supported in their completion of the Certificate in Ethnographic Studies. Two more points are worth making in regard to the postmodern critique of ethnographic practice in the South. Ethnography and general theory or people versus humankind. Royal Anthropological Institute (available on-line: www.discoveranthropology.org.uk). 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