Description
Book SynopsisBuilding on the "studying up" trend in anthropology, this book offers a theoretically informed guide to ethnographic methods that is also practical in approach, and reflects the challenges and concerns of contemporary ethnography. Students draw from vignettes situated within North America to learn how various methods work in the real world, and how ethnography informs contemporary anthropological theory. Exercises and assignments encourage students to practice these methods in a familiar context, and a sustained focus on visual methodologies offers coverage not found in other books. The result is a text that discusses both practical and theoretical issues in contemporary ethnography while equipping students with a set of transferable skills.
Trade Review"In Practicing Ethnography, the authors offer a well-constructed volume created to guide students of cultural anthropology in developing themselves as ethnographer...It provides an extremely useful structure for instructors to base courses on while still being loose enough for one to incorporate their own touches." -- Hilary-Joy Virtanen, Finlandia University * Journal of Folklore Research *
Table of ContentsIntroduction Section I: Origins and Basics 1. The Origins and Development of Socio-cultural Anthropological Fieldwork in North America 2. Traditional and Contemporary Participant Observation 3. Ethics and the Politics of Fieldwork 4. Connecting with Others -Interviewing, Conversations, and Life Histories Section II: Notes, Data, Representation 5. How to Create Field Notes 6. After Fieldwork - Analyzing Data 7. Writing Up and the Politics of Representation Section III: Shifting Field Sites 8. Applied Ethnography 9. Auto-ethnography: the Self and Other Revisited Section IV: Visual Aids 10. Photo-elicitation: Collaboration, Emotions, and Memory 11. Ethnographic Film as Ethnographic Method 12. Doing Research with, and in, Virtual Communities
