Salazar Professor Anth 11
Cultural Anthropology Spring 2010
Ethnographic Project
The project assigned for this course will provide you with some experience in doing anthropology. Although one paper does not make you an anthropologist, it should give you some sense of the difficulties and rewards of the field, and of the anthropological process. Note that the project must be based on activities that you observe or participate in during the semester, not on recollections or activities in the past. Since you are doing a project involving human beings, you are required to conform to the ethical guidelines of the discipline and San Jose State University. NO STUDENT PROJECT MAY BE UNDERTAKEN UNTIL IT HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE PROFESSOR. A paragraph stating your ethnographic project proposal is due on March 16th. The topic of your inquiry is open, although you will investigate it through the basic anthropological approach of participant-observation. You may also complete this assignment by collecting and individual's life history or interviewing someone about his or her special cultural knowledge, but we must discuss this option before you begin. Topics have included, ballet, piano and gymnastic rehearsals, life in the lounge of a dorm or cafeteria, an ethnic festival or religious observance, the flea market, selling a car or cruising a bar, informal rules for most any job (waitress, bus driver, etc.); culture of a national laboratory, an ER, a shopping mall, sports event, children on playgrounds, thrift shops etiquette, political rallies, fund-raisers, riding elevators, using rest rooms, cell phones, ATMs etc. A key to a good project is to find something in which you are interested, which is accessible to you and which will provide you with rich descriptions that you can analyze. The time you spend performing observations will vary depending upon your topic, but plan on about 6-10 hours of "fieldwork." The Project Report Your project report should contain sections addressing (1) perspective, (2) methods, (3) description, (4) analysis, and (5) interpretations and reflections. Use headers delineating these sections they useful for staying focused. 1. Perspective. Introduce your reader to your topic, why your chose it, any preconceptions you had and what you hoped to learn from the experience of investigating this particular topic. Several questions may help you get started here. What makes this topic compelling? What in particular interested you about the topic? Do you recognize any axes you're out to grind? How does this affect your ability to investigate the topic? Do you have any hypotheses to test? What are the more general lessons you can learn by studying this topic? Why should anyone care about this topic? * Project developed by Drs. James Freeman and Chuck Darrah and enhanced by Dr. Jan
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Professor Salazar Anth 11 English-Lueck.
Cultural Anthropology Spring 2010
2. Methods. Describe what you did to investigate this topic, including how you analyzed your findings. Again, some questions can get you started here. How did you select the group, person, place, etc. that was the focus of inquiry? How did you gain access to what you studied? What steps did you take to protect the people you studied? Why? To what extent were you a participant in the action versus being an observer? How did people react to you--and you to them? What--in detail--were the actual occasions when you were "in the field?" How long were you there? How did you record information? How did you actually go about detecting patterns in your observations? 3. Description. Present the description of what you observed. In the case of a life history, this would be the narrative you construct from the tape recorded (or untaped) interviews you conducted. Note that you will invariably do some organizing to make what the person tells you into a "life history." People are unlikely to present chronological tidy, tales. Sometimes, providing a polished, fleshed our version of your field notes is appropriate here (ex. Detailed studies of playground activities or a musical performance). In most cases, you will refer to your notes in order to write up a detailed compelling account of what you observed. These questions may help you write you description: who are the actors? What is the setting? What is/are the activity (-ies)? How do the participants view the activity, and how do you know that? How do people use space and time? Do they have distinctive speech habits or attire? If you did your work in a formal organization such a company, describe its social organization, hierarchy, ideals, economic and political dimensions, symbols, stories, villains, heroes, ceremonials, annual events, socialization, speech, etc. 4. Analysis. After describing your slice of life, you must make some sense of it. Use some of the concepts of anthropology to analyze your description. The key question here is, "How was it--what I described--patterned?" What regularities or patterns help you make sense of what you saw? Social life is patterned; that is how we make sense of it. Build upon that simple idea in your analysis. If you observed a ritual, or example, ask yourself how it was patterned in space (where did the activities occur) and time (how did one activity lead to another)? How were the interactions of people patterned? One way to being this process is to ask what participants in the activity had to know in order make this event occur. How could you explain this to a naive outsider? Or, what must people believe in order for this ritual to make sense to them? Remember, your analysis consists of finding and discussing the patterns within your description, and all analysis must be supported by what you observed. 5. Interpretations/Reflections. This is really the second, more speculative part of the analysis. Here you look "out from" your analysis and interpret how what you found fits into a larger society. For example, what does watching people ride elevators help you learn about (or hypothesize about) wider American culture? What does the life history of an Ethiopian refugee teach you about his--and your--culture? Or, what do you learn
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Professor Salazar Anth 11 about life in American by watching kids in the playground?
Cultural Anthropology Spring 2010
You may ask some very specific questions here, depending on what your observed. Was there a gap between the ideals that people espoused and their actual behavior? Was there a dominant symbol that brought people together with a system of shared values? If so, how did it do this? What diversity of views and behaviors characterizes the participants in the activity you observed? What were the manifest and latent functions of the event? This section of the paper is most informed by the literature, whether it is on a particular ethnic group, life event, or phenomenon. If you are writing about the Oakridge Mall, there is a literature on the ethnography of malls you should consult and include. In this section you should also reflect upon what you learned about the world around you through completing this assignment. Did you learn about yourself as an observer? As a member of the community? Did you learn anything about the community? About "American culture," and/or its various sub- and micro-cultures? Your report must be typed using 12-point font and black ink; photographs and sketches may be included. Most papers run between 10-12 pages. Do not exceed 12 pages. Grading Be sure your paper includes the following information. Example of Grading Rubric Score: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Perspective (3) Methods (4) Description (4) Analysis (4) Interpretations / Reflections (4) Writing / Clarity (1) TOTAL (20) ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________ ______________
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