Anth310 CH3
Learning Objectives
1) Discuss what is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and how it emerged as a key strategy in anthropology.
2) Explain how traditional approaches to ethnographic fieldwork contrast with contemporary approaches.
3) Identify some of the contemporary ethnographic fieldwork techniques and perspectives.
4) Discuss some of the ethical considerations of doing anthropological work.
5) Summarize how anthropologists transform their fieldwork data into a story that communicates meaning.
Fieldwork in Practice: Foundational Narratives and Contested Identities
The chapter begins with a fieldwork experience in a small indigenous community in northeastern Brazil (Genipapo Caninde of Lagoa Encantada).
Initial plan: independent project on land tenure and private land ownership. Permission obtained to stay for months.
Arrival scene: logistics (host family, ride on a motorcycle, hot equatorial climate) and initial reception by community members.
Early conflict: a debate about whether the community is truly Indigenous; a family member argues there are no Indians here, while others insist the community is Indigenous because it sits on an Indian reservation.
The clash over identity is framed as a "contested identity"—a concept in anthropology describing conflicts in beliefs about who a group is.
Background context: the community is monolingual Portuguese-speaking; original language and traditions largely lost; prior researchers since the 1980s argued for Indigenous origins and lobbied for official status.
Official status and demarcation: 1997 need-based demarcation by the National Foundation for the Indian (Funai) and state participation; the land remains demarcated only on paper for more than two decades.
Benefits of indigenous status cited: road access, an elementary school, a common well, electricity lines; however, stigma remains for some who see the label as associated with poverty and marginalization.
Tension factors: some embrace status due to material benefits; others resist due to stigma and long-standing interpersonal conflicts.
Takeaway: fieldwork often requires adapting research focus to dynamics within the community, showing how identity, history, and policy interact in lived experience.
Ethnography and Thick Description
Ethnography: in-depth study of everyday practices and lives of a people, producing thick description—detailed descriptions of behavior in context at a specific time and place.
Purpose: to explain the internal logic of why people behave as they do and what their actions mean to themselves.
Emic vs Etic perspectives:
Emic: descriptions in terms meaningful to the culture itself (insider's perspective).
Etic: explanations from the outside observer, often grounded in theory and broader research contexts.
Ethnographers use multiple data sources to craft descriptions and explanations:
Field notes and reflections from participant observation.
Informal conversations and formal interviews (audio-recorded or not).
Documents: letters, photographs, artifacts, public records, books, reports.
The goal is to incorporate both emic and etic perspectives to understand why behaviors exist and how insiders explain them.
From Armchair Anthropology to Field-Based Ethnography
Traditional/armchair anthropology (19th–early 20th century):
Relied on secondhand reports from missionaries, travelers, adventurers, and colonists.
Data often incomplete, biased, exaggerated, or romanticized; researchers rarely spent time with the studied people.
Examples: Willem Schmidt, E. B. Tyler, Sir James Frazer (e.g., The Golden Bough) who drew sweeping conclusions from secondary sources.
Problems: causal inferences and hierarchies about “evolved” cultures based on non-empirical data; potential racist conclusions.
Transition to field-based ethnography (early 20th century):
Franz Boas and Alfred Cort Haddon emphasized field presence but often relied on local guides; not always extended living among communities.
Bronisław Malinowski (1884–1942) revolutionized ethnography with participant observation in the Trobriand Islands for nearly four years; emphasized living among people and learning the language.
Malinowski argued that to understand a culture, the researcher must participate in daily life and observe from within; this approach became central to modern ethnography.
Salvage ethnography and holism:
Early 20th-century belief that cultures were rapidly disappearing led to documentation, artifact collection, and preservation efforts.
Media and artists contributed to the salvage narrative (Nanook of the North, Caitlin, Edward S. Curtis).
Critiques: romanticization, staged scenes, and the “noble savage” trope; failure to address ongoing social, political, and economic realities.
Holism: Four-Field Approach—cultural, archaeological/biological, linguistic, and physical anthropology integrated to understand humans across time and space.
Language and cognition within holism:
Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (linguistic relativity): language shapes thought and perception of time, space, and matter.
Whorf's comparison of Hopi and English reveals differences in tense and aspect; the visual illustrates how language categories can influence interpretation of events.
Peter Gordon’s Piraha language finding: few numerical terms (1, 2, many) and difficulty recalling larger quantities, illustrating potential links between language and cognition.
Debate continues: language is influential but not determinative; culture and biology interact in shaping thought.
Modern ethnography emphasizes holism and the integration of multiple subfields to study humans comprehensively.
Ethnography Today: Methods, Sites, and Problem-Orientation
Distinctive strategy: ethnography remains the hallmark method for understanding cultures through immersive fieldwork.
Evolution of field sites:
Not limited to small, isolated societies; increasingly conducted in complex, technologically advanced, urban settings (e.g., United States).
Multisited ethnography: researchers conduct fieldwork across multiple locations to study migratory processes, diasporas, and people in motion (e.g., undocumented Mexican immigrant students; fieldwork in Minnesota and Veracruz).
New sites and approaches:
Digital and everyday life practices in contemporary societies (texting, email, video calls, social media) expand the concept of fieldwork sites.
Problem-oriented research: shift from inductive, all-encompassing descriptions to deductive, problem-focused inquiries.
Case example: undocumented Mexican immigrant youth in Minnesota—identity formation under hostile labeling (e.g., “illegal,” “alien”).
Quantitative and mixed methods:
Qualitative research aims to describe behaviors and contexts in depth; quantitative methods seek patterns in numerical data.
Surveys: closed-ended questions, ease of coding, comparability across populations, often used for specific data points.
Nutritional anthropology: quantitative measures of calories, body mass, parasite infection; Detweiler’s Dancing Skeletons as a Mali case using quantitative nutrition data.
Mixed methods: combine ethnography with surveys, statistics, and visual/media analysis; Chavez’s Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation demonstrates integration of ethnography, surveys, and media analysis.
Data sources in ethnography:
Field notes and personal journals/diaries.
Audio recordings and transcripts; interviews (informal and formal).
Conversations and life histories—personal narratives that place culture in a lived context.
Genealogical method: diagramming kinship and social relationships using symbols (circles for women, triangles for men, squares for unknown gender) and ego-centered perspectives. Kinship charts illustrate marriages, offspring, and divorces (equal signs = marriage; diagonal lines = death; cross marks indicate divorce).
Key informants:
Cultural specialists or key cultural consultants who offer privileged insights and help access other informants.
Example: Doc in Street Corner Society (White, 1943) who facilitated access to a Boston street gang network.
Field notes and reflexivity:
Two main kinds of notes: field notes (descriptions of events and actions) and personal reflections.
Discussions of rhythm, sensory details, direct quotes, and overheard conversations populate field notes.
Personal journals track emotions and experiences; reflexivity acknowledges that researchers’ identities shape observations and interpretations.
Rosaldo’s grief and headhunter’s rage (1981) demonstrates how personal loss can generate deeper emic understanding of violence and emotion in a culture.
The ethics and responsibilities of fieldwork:
Ethical guidelines: do no harm, obtain informed consent, maintain anonymity, and make results accessible.
IRBs (Institutional Review Boards) review research plans to assess potential harms and ethical issues.
Informed consent must be context-appropriate—signatures may be inappropriate in some communities; other methods of consent may be needed.
Anonymity and privacy: pseudonyms and redacted details to protect participants.
Accessibility: translate or adapt results into formats suitable for participants and communities; create databases and provide actionable outcomes.
Emic and Etic Perspectives in Practice
Emic perspectives:
Insider meanings, categories, and explanations that make sense within the culture.
Emic data help reveal how insiders interpret events and behaviors.
Etic perspectives:
Outsider explanations grounded in theory, comparison, and cross-cultural analysis.
Ethnographers typically integrate both to build robust interpretations.
Cultural relativism vs ethnocentrism:
Cultural relativism: suspend personal values and understand beliefs within their cultural contexts.
Ethnocentrism: viewing one’s own culture as normal or superior; problematic in cross-cultural research.
Example from fieldwork in Brazil: close interactions and affectionate norms (close proximity, body contact) challenged U.S. expectations; adopting a culturally relativist stance allowed respectful engagement and richer data.
Objectivity vs activism:
Debates about whether ethnography should be purely objective or openly advocate for human rights and justice.
Examples include debates around female genital cutting (FGC/FGM) and researchers' responsibilities to weigh neutrality against advocacy.
There is no universal stance; scholars grapple with how much activism is appropriate in ethnographic work.
Interpretive vs scientific orientations:
Interpretive anthropology treats culture as a text, emphasizing meanings, context, and the researcher’s perspective.
Some scholars align with scientific approaches, but many modern anthropologists blend methods and theories to suit the problem at hand.
Holism and interconnections:
Four-field approach remains a hallmark of anthropology’s holistic aim: cultural, archaeological/biological, linguistic, and physical anthropology.
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf argued language and cognition are interrelated; language shapes cognitive categories and perception of time, space, and matter.
The Sapir–Whorf/Hopi example and Piraha numbers illustrate how language may influence thought processes and categorization, though not deterministically.
Ethnographic Methods and Techniques: Tools of Data Collection
Observation and participant observation:
Ethnographers pay attention to everything in the field—daily routines, major events, interactions, and environmental impacts.
Field notes and diaries document sensory impressions, conversations, and observed behaviors.
Participant observation requires living with informants and engaging in daily life to gain an emic perspective.
Rapport-building is critical for trust and effective data collection.
Conversations and interviews:
Ethnographers use casual conversations, formal interviews, and life histories to capture personal narratives and social meanings.
Life histories contextualize how individuals experience and influence cultural change over time.
Interview data are typically transcribed and integrated with observations.
The genealogical method:
Used to document kinship, descent, marriage, and social structure; diagrams (kinship charts) are used to map relationships from the ego’s perspective.
Symbols denote gender, marriage status, and relationships; cross marks indicate divorce, etc.
Field notes and reflexivity:
Field notes are the primary record of fieldwork; reflexivity acknowledges the researcher’s position and its influence on data.
Personal journals supplement field notes and can become data sources in analysis.
Ethical considerations in practice:
Do no harm remains central but is complex in real-world contexts.
Informed consent must be adapted to context; some communities require communal consent or other culturally appropriate processes.
Anonymity helps protect informants from potential harms;
Accessibility: sharing results in accessible formats, possibly in the local language or through community-based dissemination.
Writing ethnography and ethnographic authority:
Early ethnographies often presented a single authoritative voice, which marginalized informants.
Feminist critiques highlighted omissions of women’s voices and perspectives in traditional ethnography.
Polyvocality: strategies to include multiple voices—informants' words, co-authored sections, or directly quoted passages—to democratize the narrative and increase transparency.
Ruth Behar’s Translating Woman Crossing the Border (Esperanza’s Story, 1993) exemplifies polyvocality by weaving Esperanza’s own voice with Behar’s analysis.
Reflexivity and the politics of ethnography:
Reflexivity foregrounds how the researcher’s identity, background, emotions, and experiences shape interpretation.
It helps reveal power dynamics and invites a broader set of voices into the narrative.
Ethnography as story-telling:
The goal is to transform field data into meaningful narratives that illuminate practices, beliefs, and the broader social world.
The narrative must balance researcher insight with participants’ own words and perspectives.
Ethical Guidelines in Fieldwork: Do No Harm, Consent, and Accessibility
Do no harm:
Researchers must consider legal, political, economic, social, and cultural risks to informants.
Continuous monitoring and adaptation of research design are necessary to minimize harm.
Informed consent:
Participants must understand who is conducting the research, who funds it, how results will be used, who will access the data, and the risks involved.
Consent is not always best captured via a formal signed document; consent procedures should be culturally appropriate.
Anonymity and privacy:
Use pseudonyms and redact identifying details when necessary to protect informants.
Accessibility and dissemination:
Researchers should strive to make results accessible to informants and communities, using translations, public reports, databases, or films that are useful to them.
IRBs and review processes:
Institutional review boards help identify potential risks and guide researchers toward safer and more ethical practices.
Case study in ethics:
The Yanomami controversy (Chagnon) highlighted the risks of harm and misrepresentation when ethical considerations are neglected; modern ethics emphasize ongoing reassessment of harm and responsibility.
Writing Ethnography: Voice, Authority, and Polyvocality
Ethnographic authority and its challenges:
Earlier accounts presented the ethnographer as the ultimate authority, often neglecting informants’ voices.
Feminist critiques and postcolonial critiques call for including informants’ perspectives and challenging Western-centric voices.
Polyvocality:
A text that includes multiple voices—informants’ direct speech, the researcher’s reflections, and collaborative sections—enhances transparency and invites reader engagement.
Behar’s work demonstrates how including Esperanza’s voice can shift readers’ understanding and critique of power dynamics.
Reflexivity in writing:
Researchers describe their own positionality and its impact on data interpretation, inviting readers to consider alternative readings.
Practical implications:
Transparent methodology, clear articulation of data sources, and explicit connections between data and interpretations help ensure credible ethnography.
Contemporary Relevance: Connecting to Foundational Principles and Real World
Ethnography as a dynamic, evolving field:
From armchair to field-based, from universalizing to polyvocal, ethnography remains a flexible method for understanding human life.
Its reach extends beyond traditional settings to contemporary urban spaces, diasporas, and digital interactions.
Foundational principles to carry forward:
Holism: integrate language, culture, biology, and history.
Cultural relativism: suspend judgment to understand beliefs and practices within their own context.
Emic and etic perspectives: use insider meanings and outside theoretical explanations to craft robust interpretations.
Reflexivity: acknowledge researcher influence and power dynamics; invite diverse voices to balance authority.
Real-world relevance:
Ethnography informs policy and social programs by revealing how communities understand and respond to changes in land rights, education, immigration, and health.
Mixed methods offer a powerful toolkit for studying complex, modern societies where data exist in multiple forms (surveys, interviews, media analysis, and participant observation).
Glossary (Selected Terms and Definitions)
contested identity: conflict within a community or group about who belongs or how the group is defined; identities may be disputed or contested by insiders.
cultural relativism: the methodological stance of understanding beliefs and practices within their own cultural framework, without imposing outside judgments.
culture: the learned, shared ways of life of a group, including beliefs, values, practices, norms, and artifacts.
deductive: research approach starting from a hypothesis or theoretical framework and testing it in the field.
diaspora: populations dispersed from their homeland who maintain or develop cultural ties in multiple locations.
emic: perspective from within the culture; categories and meanings meaningful to the cultural insiders.
ethnocentrism: judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture.
ethnography: the in-depth, systematic study of people and cultures, producing thick description and cultural analysis.
etic: perspective from outside the culture; observer-centered explanations and theoretical interpretations.
indigenous: peoples or communities recognized by government or society as native to a place with historic ties to the land.
inductive: research approach that builds theory from observations and data collected in the field.
key informants: informants who have specialized knowledge and provide access and interpretive depth for the researcher.
kinship: social relationships derived from blood, marriage, or adoption that structure families, households, and communities.
land tenure: legal rights to land and the rules governing its use and ownership.
noble savage: a romanticized notion of indigenous peoples as inherently noble and pure before contact with modern society, often used in salvage-era writings.
participant observation: ethnographic method in which the researcher engages in daily activities with informants while observing and recording.
qualitative: non-numeric data and methods focusing on meanings, experiences, and descriptions.
quantitative: numeric data and methods focusing on measurement, patterns, and correlations.
remittances: money and goods sent by migrants to family members back home, influencing local economies and social structures.
thick description: rich, contextualized account of social action that explains the context, meanings, and significance of behaviors.
undocumented: individuals who lack legal status or documentation, often shaping research contexts and ethical considerations.