IB Cultural Anthropology/The Ethnographies/How to Read an Ethnography

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An ethnography is usually a book that studies a particular culture in depth. Ethnographies do not necessarily need to be books, however- they can also be films.

Steps to reading ethnography

 * 1) Find the interpretation.
 * 2) *Separate the interpretation from the description
 * 3) Examine the selection of data.
 * 4) *What did the anthropologist spend the most time on?
 * 5) Examine the theoretical framework the ethnography is working within.
 * 6) Find the fundamental questions the ethnography is trying to answer.
 * 7) *These are usually provided in the introduction or first chapter.
 * 8) Examine the organization of the ethnography.

Interpretation vs. Description
An example of the difference between description and interpretation is as follows:

Examine the “wink.”

Description
A description of a wink would be: blinking one eye. This, however, is hardly satisfying.

Interpretation
Interpretation of this data would show that winking is a gesture that indicates:


 * Joviality
 * Flirting
 * Knowing
 * Other emotions

This would provide a much more thorough understanding of what a “wink” really is.

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