Understanding Ethnographic Research: Tasks, Methods, and Expectations

Ethnographic Tasks

Ethnographic Tasks The ethnographic tasks are designed to shift learning from being bound in the classroom to the dynamic cultural worlds around us. When doing ethnographic research your focus should be on understanding what is happening naturally in the setting. This can be done by observing, participating, and/or talking with participants to better understand the meaning(s) behind their actions. Once you have gathered information through observation, participation, personal reflection, and/or interviews the next step is to interpret the data gathered to see what can be revealed about the cultural performance and/or setting. This leads us into a key aspect of anthropology, which is ethnographic writing. Ethnographic writing is, simply, writing about culture(s). For the tasks assigned for this course, you can submit a written ethnography OR you can opt for video or audio. Details on expectations for each are below. There are a variety of ethnographic methods, which will allow you flexibility in how you approach the ethnographic tasks. Key things that you will be doing and looking for are how individuals, in their cultural setting, use their body, language, symbols (material and non-material), and rituals to construct an account of that particular culture- which produces and/or reinforces values and beliefs that are seen to be important to the culture and the society. Ethnographic Task #2 Options (Due Dec 1st): What does family mean to you? Does that reflect the understanding(s) of family in Canada or in the country where you are from? Where do different understandings of family come from and what is the impact of that? Or What languages do you speak? Do you have friends and/or family members who speak languages that you don't? Reflect on the languages that they speak and how that impacts their identity or belonging and/or your identity and belonging. Please give examples of times you have noticed gender, power, ethnicity, and/or status being expressed through the use of language. Steps to Ethnographic Research 1. Identify Research Questions. This may change once you start doing your actual research, but it is an important first step. 2. Determine what you want to observe (this can be websites, chat rooms, twitter, etc. OR actual spaces- classrooms, shopping malls, restaurants, etc.) or participate in or interview people about. -For example, how is the campus culture of the University of Regina being expressed online. You could do that by documenting Twitter posts, the main page information on the University of Regina website, Facebook groups, or news stories. Think about what clubs we have on campus, which students are being focused on, what it means to be a student and if that is being expressed in the posts being made, etc. 3. Determine the location(s) for your research. -Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, your sites will be limited to online or household. When doing your research, make sure you can have appropriate access to the locations and that the individuals you may be interviewing are aware of your research. I will help you through the ethics approval process, if you wish to do official interviews. 4. Acquire Permissions. -Do not do anything that would be deemed illegal in order to gain access to any site or to any individual. While full official interviews are not required for the tasks, they can be done. If you wish to do official interviews, please let me know. 5. Observe participate, and/or interview. 6. Write or produce (if you are opting for video or audio) your interpretation and analysis of the data you acquired. Written Submission Expectations -Formal academic writing is expected for the written submissions. That said, it is important to note that personal “I” can be used in anthropological writing. -The format should be Times New Roman size 12 font. Chicago Manual of Style is a good form of citation. Examples of citation using this style are attached to the end of this guide. Any form of citation may be used, so please use the style that you are most comfortable with. -Your submission should be approximately 1-2 pages long. Please do NOT exceed 2 pages. If your submission is over 2 pages, take some time to edit it down. Keep your information concise. -The questions or things you were “thinking” about while doing your research should be clearly identified and then supported or expanded on by the data that you collected and your analysis/interpretation of the data. It is important that you identify your research site as well. -Written submission can be made on UR courses until 11:55pm on the due date. Please note that there is a specific submission area for written submissions and an area for MEDIA (audio and video) submissions. Please make sure you are using the proper submission area. Video Submission Expectations -The video submission can be done as personal observations and/or as interviews. -For referencing of course concepts and/or terms, please use “in conversation” referencing. For example, “As we were talking about in the lecture on multiculturalism, ethnic enclaves can be seen on campus in the following ways…” or “As Geertz wrote, ‘Culture is public because the meaning of culture is public.’” The most important thing is that you situate yourself in an academic conversation by making use of the knowledge generated by others by giving them credit for their work. -The video submission should be approximately 3-5 minutes long. Please try and keep the videos under 5 minutes, if possible. -As with the written submission, clearly state the research questions that you had, indicate your research site(s), and then give your analysis/interpretation based on the data you collected. -Video submission can be made on UR courses until 11:55pm on the due date. Please note that there is a specific submission area for written submissions and an area for MEDIA (audio and video) submissions. Please make sure you are using the proper submission area. Audio Submission Expectations -The audio submission can be done as observations and/or as interviews. -For referencing of course concepts and/or terms, please use “in conversation” referencing. For example, “As we were talking about in the lecture on multiculturalism, ethnic enclaves can be seen on campus in the following ways…” or “As Geertz wrote, ‘Culture is public because the meaning of culture is public.’” The most important thing is that you situate yourself in an academic conversation by making use of the knowledge generated by others by giving them credit for their work. -The audio submission should be approximately 3-5 minutes long. Please try and keep the audio recordings under 5 minutes, if possible. -As with the written submission, clearly state the research questions that you had, indicate your research site(s), and then give your analysis/interpretation based on the data you collected. -Audio submission can be made on UR courses until 11:55pm on the due date. Please note that there is a specific submission area for written submissions and an area for MEDIA (audio and video) submissions. Please make sure you are using the proper submission area. Written Submission Referencing Help: Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition In-text citations • Place citations in parentheses and include the author’s name and the source’s year of publication, with no intervening punctuation, at the end of a sentence or before a comma or semicolon, whenever possible: (Herzfeld 2005). • Always include page numbers for quotations or extensive paraphrases, using an en dash for page ranges: (Herzfeld 2005, 146–47). (Note: they are preceded by a comma, not a colon; this is a major change from the AAA Style Guide.) • Use semicolons to separate two or more references in a single parenthetical citation and list them alphabetically: (Bessire and Bond 2014; Comaroff 1996; Daser 2014; Foucault 2000). • Do not include “ed.” or “trans.” in citations (and in the case of books that have been reprinted or updated, do not include the original publication year), as this information will be included on the reference list. • Use the first author’s last name and et al. for works with four or more authors. • You may use the following abbreviations: , e.g., and i.e. Do not use ibid., passim, op. cit., and so on. Only very rarely would we use ff., “when referring to a section for which no final number can usefully be given” (CMS 14.156). Reference list • Do not embed the reference list in the endnotes. • Include every source cited in the text and no others, listed alphabetically by author. • When including multiple works by the same author, list them chronologically, from oldest to most recent. • For works published by the same author in the same year, add a, b, and so on, and list them alphabetically by title. The following examples, which illustrate a number of citation scenarios, may serve as a guide for formatting your entries.