For my Folk Studies class, please conduct an Ethnography and write an Ethnography (6 pages double spaced).
Ethnography is the act of observing an event as well as the act of writing it down, so I am not being silly using the word twice in the first sentence.
Choose an event to observe. This a new observation not something you have done in the past. The event could be special like a wedding, funeral, meeting, church service or everyday events like the activities at a construction site, a shopping trip, or anything you take for granted. You should both observe what is going on from the perspective of someone who is outside the culture and explain it from the perspective of those within the culture. I am asking you to look at it from both perspectives and include both in your paper. You should not only observe the setting and the actions of people, but the underlying culture the participants share.
I have shared two good examples of Ethnographies for you to read. The first is a parody of an ethnography called “Body Rituals among the Nacirema”. It is meant to be fun, but shows you how outsiders to a culture can describe events only based on what they observe. Think about how much better this description would have been if the researcher had also asked questions.
The second example “Friday Night at Iowa 80” is a wonderful example of an ethnography done by a researcher named Rick Zollo. Although it sounds like he did this in one night, his ethnography is a result of many days spent reading what others had done and observing and interviewing particpants at the truck stop. In fact many famous ethnographies in the field of folklore and anthropology are book length and describe in detail the everyday goings on of a culture.
Please let me know if you have any questions or issues. Thanks 😉
