Monday, December 27, 2010

Ethnography (ĕth-nŏg'rə-fē)

n. The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures. (American Heritage Dictionary)
I have recently made a some references to what I plan to bring to this blog in the coming year. It is called ethnography.


Ethnography is fundamental to anthropology, my field of study. This new blogging concept will ultimately help me to think more like an anthropologist and to refine my research methods outside of a classroom setting. Nevertheless, I do hope that some of the ethnography I have in store will entertain, enlighten, and engage those reading it.


Instead of stating an encyclopedic definition of ethnography here and then explaining why I will not adhere to that definition's anthropological convention in my work, I will simply allow you to assess what ethnography means to me through actually reading my ethnography. Mysterious? Maybe.

Disclaimer: Future posts with the label "ethnography" will probably not surface for a long while. I am thinking about some possible senior theses topics and testing the waters for them. If I develop multiple studies and choose to take the plunge into one over another few, I may just spout some streams of consciousness on the others here. Other day to day ethnographies may very well find their way to this blog. Mysterious? Probably. However, I also feel that there will be an ebb and flow to this art; I hope to get caught in the current. Stay thirsty, my friends.

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