What is Ethnography?

Ethnography

Ethnography (comes from the terms ethnos , which means people , and graphein , which means writing ) is the field of writing that illustrates anecdotal degrees of quantitative and qualitative metaphors of human social trends and events , founded on fieldwork . It shows the results of complete research process based on the principle that a method 's attributes cannot necessarily be exactly recognized and grasped in parallel of each other . The field has both strict and chronological associations to travel writing and regal office accounts (Hammersley /Atki , 2007

Barbara Myerhoff was an anthropologist

whose method in ethnography was more focused on the relation of the past experiences and the future experiences . She used this approach to unravel the problem of meaning and identity of her subject . She stressed that the past memories and experiences would make a particular culture or ethnic group formulate its future . She suggested a construction of the future based from the past in to derive the meaning and identity of the studied culture or ethnic group (Myerhoff , 1980

On the other hand , Julie Cruikshank was also an anthropologist however her approach to ethnography was really different from Myerhoff . She focused her study on the oral history and narratives of her subject . She did her research method by maintaining the past experiences and memories of particular culture or ethnic tribe and then making narratives out of it . These narratives were eventually used to present the way of life of her subject (Cruikshank , 1992

Both of them used an approach that which is constituted on the historical processes that their subjects took . However , Cruikshank 's method was more confined in the past experiences of her subject which limits the scope of analysis to its history . Myerhoff 's research process was more dynamic and applicable since it also addressed the relationship of the past to the future

References

Cruikshank , J (1992 . Life Lived Like a Story : Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders (New ed . University of Nebraska Press

Hammersley /Atki (2007 . Ethnography : Principles in Practice (3rd ed Routledge

Myerhoff , B (1980 . Number Our Days . Touchstone .Page PAGE 1

ETHNOGRAPHY ...