Cultural Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology

Viewing Culture as Successive Levels

An iceberg as an analogy of culture

An Iceberg as an Analogy of Culture

CultureCulture consists of:

1. Learned concepts and behavior

2. Underlying perspectives (worldview)

3. Resulting products nonmaterial (customs and rituals)

material (artifacts)

Our Way: Writing Ethnographies

How Do We Study Cultures?

EthnographyThe study and recording of human

cultures and the descriptive work produced from such research

Roots traced back to late 19th century when anthropologists engaged in participant observation in the field.

Derived from the words “ethno” which means folk and “graph” derived from writing.

Why do we conduct ethnographic research?

People learn more from direct experience than second-hand experience (books, lectures)

Narrative helps us reflect on the experience

Collect evidence without hypothesis or conclusion

Analysis explains what you have learned

Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Qualitative Data Quantitative Data

Study where data is gathered in the form of words, narratives and impressions.

Ex. Interview

Study where data is translated into numbers

Ex. Survey

Emic and Etic Perspective

Emic Approach Etic Approach

Investigates how people in the group we are studying perceive and categorize the world

What has meaning for them

Shifts focus to the interpretations of the anthropologist.

Members of a culture often are too involved in what they are doing to interpret their cultures impartially.

What can we study?

What can we Study? What Kind of Data?

Formal and Informal Groups

Subcultures Organizations

Field NotesTextsParticipant-

ObservationSurveysInterviews

Ethnographers Adopt a stance both distanced (observing)

and interactive (participatory)

Study cultures through the relationship of individuals, the rituals, values, and habits they share.

Spend lots of times with cultures and participate in their activities

Writing of an EthnographyPre-Writing:

Reflections on group you are studyingQuestions you are interested to answer

Introductions/Consent FormsConsent Letters Provide Privacy if members ask for it.

Journal Your thinking throughout the project.

Write ideas, observations, etc. Drafts and Revisions

Basic Stages of Field Research

1. Selecting a research topic2. Formulating a research design3. Collecting the data4. Analyzing the data5. Interpreting the data

6. Research Example

Select a Research TopicDon’t rush on this step!Brainstorm research questions you would like to answer

Choose a topic you are interested in.

Check the Existing LiteratureSee if someone has already done some of the work for you or answered the questions you are researching about

Can you add to their study? Is your study still necessary?

How much information can you find about the topic you are willing to study?

Collecting DataLook for Key Informants

Respondents who have special knowledge about a group or an event

Look for a Representative Sample of the Population you study

Field NotesAccounts describing experiences and observations the researcher has made while participating in an intense and involved manner

Subject to memory of observer

Subject to bias of the observer

Observation

InterviewsStructured Interviews: Questions tend to be closed

questions requiring: yes/no answers, use of scales or other forms of ranking.

Semi – structured interviews are those that incorporate both closed and open ended questionsSurveys can be semi-structured

Unstructured Interviews ask open-ended questionsAllows interviewees to respond at their own pace in

their own words. Resembles a normal conversation

Guidelines for Ethnographic Interviewing

1. Obtain informed consent before interviewing.2. Do not look for the “desired” answer.3. Pre-test questions to make sure they are

understandable and culturally relevant.4. Keep the recording unobtrusive

5. Use simple, clean language.6. Phrase questions positively.8. Keep the questions and the interview short.9. Save controversial questions for the end.10. Interviews can go wrong! Manage the

situation! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAKCQammecg

Focus GroupsGroup Interview

Interactive Group Setting

Participants feel free to talk with other group members

Participant-Observation

Spending time with the research participants interacting with them and participating in the activities that are of interest.

Involves taking field notes or other recordings, and unstructured interviews.

Participant Observation Phases

1. Establishing RapportGet to know the members of the community. Be accepted

by the community in order to obtain quality data. 2. In the Field

“Do as they do”. Show a connection with the population in order to be accepted. Moderate your language and participate in daily activities.

3. Recording Observations and DataYou can record personal feelings about experiences.

Includes field notes, interviews, and journals. 4. Analyzing Data

Look for recurrent themes found in interviews, observations, etc. Construct a cohesive story worth being told.

Ethnography

Requires:- the language of that culture

- first-hand participation & interpretation

- intensive work with a few informants from that setting

Sort of description that can only emerge from spending a lengthy amount of time intimately studying and living in a particular social setting

Ethnography

The heart of ethnography is thick description, that was originally coined by Clifford Geertz (1973).

Thick description: explains not just the behavior, but its context as well, such that the behavior becomes meaningful to an outsider- analyzes the multiple levels of meaning in any situation

EthnographyHistory & Definition/Thick description:

Geertz discusses the role of the ethnographer. Broadly, the ethnographer's aim is to observe, record, and analyze a culture. More specifically, he or she must interpret signs to gain their meaning within the culture itself. This interpretation must be based on the "thick description" of a sign in order to see all the possible meanings. His example of a "wink of any eye" clarifies this point. When a man winks, is he merely "rapidly contracting his right eyelid" or is he "practicing a burlesque of a friend faking a wink to deceive a an innocent into thinking conspiracy is in motion"? Ultimately, Geertz hopes that the ethnographer's deeper understanding of the signs will open and/or increase the dialogue among different cultures.

EthnographyDoing Ethnography

Aims of Observational Research:

1.Seeing through the eyes of the people being observed

2.Description: paying attention to the mundane details

3.Contextualism: conveying messages in a complete manner so that understand the wider social and historical context

EthnographyDoing Ethnography

4 Separate Sets of Notes Needed:

1. Short notes made at the time

2. Expanded notes made as soon as possible after the field session

3. A fieldwork journal to record problems and ideas that arise during each stage of field work

4. A provisional running record of analysis and interpretation