Ethnography
Kevin Glazer
Anthro-3 Chino
Ethnography and Culture The article begins by giving an example of how most Americans approach the study of science. The quote states…“ most Americans observe whatever we wish to understand, introduce our own classification of what is going on, and explain what we see in our own terms.” Basically what the opening quote is implying is that instead of trying to understand why something happens, or why someone acts someway; we try to compare ourselves to the situation or thing we are trying to understand. By doing this we come up with conclusions that are based on our belief system, and not on whatever we are studying. Spradley starts of the article by stating that “Ethnographic fieldwork is the hallmark of cultural anthropology.” He then states the vast amount of ways that ethnographers collect their data when trying to understand a culture. Some of these activities consist of eating strange foods, learning a new language, observing play, interviewing individuals, and many other ways of gathering data. What Spradley is trying to stress is that ethnography is the understanding a culture from their point of view. One example I can think of is the movie Avatar. The main character is a human but is taken in by a native tribe to understand their way of life. At the beginning he was just trying to deceive the tribe, and get intelligence for the Americans. But, after he learns the natives’ ways he understands them and their way of life much more. He eventually sees how they think and helps them rise to beat the Americans. So, ethnography is understanding a different culture by disregarding any beliefs from your culture. When someone is studying another culture they don’t try to compare the other cultures social life to their own value, but try to understand it through the persons’ they are studying values. Spradley then says there are three fundamental aspects of human experience a researcher should study when observing
Anthro-3 Chino
Ethnography and Culture The article begins by giving an example of how most Americans approach the study of science. The quote states…“ most Americans observe whatever we wish to understand, introduce our own classification of what is going on, and explain what we see in our own terms.” Basically what the opening quote is implying is that instead of trying to understand why something happens, or why someone acts someway; we try to compare ourselves to the situation or thing we are trying to understand. By doing this we come up with conclusions that are based on our belief system, and not on whatever we are studying. Spradley starts of the article by stating that “Ethnographic fieldwork is the hallmark of cultural anthropology.” He then states the vast amount of ways that ethnographers collect their data when trying to understand a culture. Some of these activities consist of eating strange foods, learning a new language, observing play, interviewing individuals, and many other ways of gathering data. What Spradley is trying to stress is that ethnography is the understanding a culture from their point of view. One example I can think of is the movie Avatar. The main character is a human but is taken in by a native tribe to understand their way of life. At the beginning he was just trying to deceive the tribe, and get intelligence for the Americans. But, after he learns the natives’ ways he understands them and their way of life much more. He eventually sees how they think and helps them rise to beat the Americans. So, ethnography is understanding a different culture by disregarding any beliefs from your culture. When someone is studying another culture they don’t try to compare the other cultures social life to their own value, but try to understand it through the persons’ they are studying values. Spradley then says there are three fundamental aspects of human experience a researcher should study when observing