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Zakaria Abshir, Karim Dhupalia

HSP 3U7

Mr Ko

Observation

- Ethnographers must observe individual and cultural behaviour in various settings, they should record what they see as they see it

- Many ethnographers record their impressions on the cultures that they're observing in their diaries.

diaries are kept separate from their formal field notes

- The diary consisting of first impressions contains trivial matters of the culture being observed

such as their distinctive smells, how they gaze at others etc...

Referred to by Bronislaw Malnowski called "the imponderabilia of native life and of typical behaviour" (Malnowski 1922/1961, p. 20)

- During the observation anthropologists get accustomed to these trivial matters, taking them for granted, and usually not including them in their field reports, that is why initial observations are crucial in the complete understanding of a culture

Terik Brown, Nabhey Bhavsar

Participant Observation

- Taking part in the event one is observing, describing and analyzing, or taking part in the community life as we study it

- Must take part in events and processes that we are observing and trying to comprehend

- Most anthropologists have similar field experience, the common humanity of the student and the studied, the ethnographer and the researched community, makes participant observation.

Daniel, Sach, Zakaria H., Jaskaran

Anthropology in Complex Societies Note

Vocabulary:

Ethnographic Monograph: A book based on ethnographic field work

Community Studies: Anthropological method for studying complex societies. Small

communities are studied ethnographically as (partially) representative of regional culture or particular contrasts in national life

Complex Societies: Large and populous societies with social stratification and central governments

Urban Anthropology: Anthropological study of cities

Anthropological Research in Complex Societies:

• Malinowski studied the Trobriand Islanders during WWI

• In his ethnographic monograph Argonauts of the Western Pacific, it describes how ethnographers “set-up shop” in another society

• Kottak uses the same approach, however not in a tribal society

• Malinowski shows how to study the islanders as he was able to perceive them and their culture holistically

• This was due to their small population and that is was easier to understand through field-study

• Kottak’s study of Arembepe was a small part of a larger research study.

• Modern research usually occurs in community studies

• We must also consider urban life and social contrasts as they are absent in small communities

Urban Anthropology:

• Community studies in a nation reveals variation, however more to national life than small communities

• Response to problem- urban anthropology

• Anthropologists have investigated urban problems and life style is the U.S.A, Canada, and abroad

• Commonality is practice of having students do field-work locally for an anthropology course

• Kottak’s courses in Michigan had undergraduates do research on teams, campus organizations, etc.

• They also observe public behavior

• Other modern anthropology projects use techniques to interpret media

• There has been a study and research of our own culture in North America for decades

• Whoever human behavior is patterned, there is a grist for an anthropological mill

Anthropology in Complex societies:

• Anthropologists use a plethora of techniques when studying cultures but need to supplement these when studying complex societies

• This due to the fact that they are largely populous with social stratification and central governments

• Anthropologists also gather statistical data as they are social indicators which they must be mindful of

• They must detect, measure and compare these and their influences

• Even in rural areas anthropologists gather quantitative and qualitative data and use statistics to interpret them

• This data can support and round out an ethnographic accent of rural life

Jonathan's Group

Problem – Oriented Ethnography

Ethnographers are unable to research all behaviours, so they enter a field with specific questions to solve

They address and investigate specific problems, as well as obtaining data relevant to the investigation

The method of obtaining data is not only done through interviews

Anthropologists also gather information on: population density, environmental quality, climate, physical geography, diet, and land use

Sometimes this involves direct measurements -> of rainfall, temperature, fields, yields, dietary quantities, or time allocation

This is usually obtained through government archives or records

Information of interest to ethnographers are not limited to what informants can tell us and anthropologists cannot rely on participant observation or intensive local interviews

It is unreliable because local informants lack knowledge about regional, national, and international information

Longitudinal Research

Geography limits Anthropologists less now than in the past

It could take up to months to reach a field site in the past which meant return visits were rare

With new technology and transportation, Anthropologists were able to widen their area of research

Ethnographic reports include data from two or more field stays

Longitudinal Research is the long-term study of a community, region, society, culture, or other unit, usually based on repeated visits

Eg. longitudinal study of interplay of social and economic forces in Gwembe District, Zambia

This project is both longitudinal (multitime) and multisite (considering several local field sites) because no single village/neigbourhood could adequately represent Gwembe's diversity

Periodic village censuses provide basic data on population, economy, and other variables chosen to monitor changes in kinship and religious behaviour

Information on labour migration, visits between town and country, and other linkages show extent to which rural and urban belong to a single system

Field notes -> reconstruct prices for different periods of time

These notes contain observations from attendance of courts, village and district meetings, church services, funerals, and ceremonies

It also includes information supplemented by interviews with traders and officials, technical workers, political leaders, and foreigners who work for religious missions and nongovernmental organizations (NGO)

Zambian social scientists who have worked in the districts provide insights about changes taking place

First focus of study -> impact of large hydroelectric dam

Forced resettlement of Gwembe people

also spurred road building and other activities that brought people of Gwembe more closely in touch with the rest of Zambia

Late 1960's -> Education is a major concern at Gwembe and an important role in changes taking place

Scudder and Colson designed research to examine role of education in providing access to new opportunities and increasing social differentiation within districts and the nation.

Alcohol consumption -> a growing problem

Third major study -> examined role of changing markets, transportation and exposure to town values in transformation of domestic brewing and a radical change in drinking patterns

Arany Poobalasingam, Kiranpreet Bhangu, Nidhi Shelat, Nujhat Ahmed

Mr. Ko

HSP3U7-02

Conversation, Interviewing and Interviewing Schedules + the Genealogical Method Notes

• Participating in local life

o Ethnographers constantly talk to people, ask questions based on what they observe

• Several stages in learning a field/native language

o Naming phase

▪ asking names of

• people

• objects

• animals, etc

• After learning and becoming more adaptable, more complex questions are asked, and replies are easier to understand

o Able to understand: simple conversations between villagers, comprehend quick public discussions and group conversations

• Record for later analysis with local expert

• Ethnographic Survey: includes an interview schedule (data-gathering technique)

o Ask a set of questions on a printed form

▪ Results in a census and basic information

• Gathering Data

o Name, age, sex of each household member is needed

o Family type, political party, relegation, present and previous jobs income, expenditures, diet, possessions, and many other items

• Sociologists and other social scientists working in large, populous, industrial nations use the survey research design routinely

o Instead, there is a data-gathering technique that involves sampling (choosing from small, manageable study group from a larger population) and impersonal data collection

• Interview Schedule

o Ethnographer talks face to face with informants, asks the questions, and writes down the answers

• Questionnaire

o Procedures that tend to be more indirect and impersonal; the respondent often fills in the form

• Ethnographers strive to establish rapport with informants

o Rapport: a good, friendly relationship based on personal contact

• Interview Schedule Survey helps to

o Gather quantifiable information for comparison

o Assess patterns and exceptions in village life

o Do informal and follow-up interviewing through home visits

o Make their ethnography both qualitative and quantitative

• Quantitative part consists of

o Basic information they gathered

o The analysis of the information

• Qualitative part consists of

o Follow-up questions

o Open-ended discussion and some gossip

o Work with well-informed informants

• The Genealogical Method

o Early ethnographers developed genealogical notation

▪ Used to deal with principals of kinship, descent, and marriage

• Equals social building blocks of non-industrial cultures

• Non-industrial cultures

o Spend their lives only with their relatives

• Genealogical data

o Must be recorded to reconstruct history and comprehend current relations

• Kin-based societies

o Societies without a central government, with links basic to social life and political organizations

▪ Everyone related to and spends time with one another

▪ Rules of behaviour

• Relate to the specific kin relationships based on everyday life

Marriage

▪ Crucial in organizing non-industrial societies

• Strategic marriages

o Between villages, tribes and clans create political alliances

Jasmine's Group

Ethnography (Techniques) – SURVEY RESEARCH

Survey research – involves sampling, impersonal data collection, and statistical analysis.

- It involves drawing a sample (a manageable study group) from a larger population

- Social scientists can make correct inferences about larger populations by studying a selected sample

- Survey research cannot help being more impersonal (given the greater size and complexity of nations for Ethnographers)

- Survey researchers call the people they study respondents (people who respond to questions during a survey or questionnaires) whereas ethnographers work with informants

- 1. Sometimes survey researchers personally interview people

- 2. After an initial meeting, they ask respondents to fill out a questionnaire

- 3. In other cases, printed questionnaires are mailed to randomly selected sample members

- or 4. Have graduate students interview or telephone them

- All samples are done randomly, selected by randomizing it with tables of random numbers

- During sampling, researchers gather information about age, gender, religion, occupation, income, and political party preference

- Variables are attributes that vary among members of a sample or population

1. Predictor Variable (a predictor)

● work separately and together in influencing a dependent variable

2. Dependent Variable (any variable that is to be predicted or explained)

● e.g. “risk of heart attack” (the dependent variable) and predictors include sex, age,

family history, weight, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, exercise and cigarette

smoking

● predictors help us guess how people think, feel and believe

● the number of variables influencing social identity and behaviour increases with

social complexity

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SURVEY RESEARCH AND ETHNOGRAPHY

There are several differences between survey research and ethnography:

1. In survey research, the object of study is usually a sample chosen (randomly or otherwise) by the researcher. Ethnographers study whole, functioning communities

2. Ethnographers do first-hand fieldwork, striving to establish rapport, a good, friendly working relationship with informants. Survey researchers have no personal contact with respondents

3. Ethnographers get to know their informants and take an interest in their lives. A social survey focuses on a small number of variables, rather than on the totality of people’s lives

4. Survey researchers work in modern nations. Ethnographers are more likely to study people who do not read and write

5. The results from survey research must be analyzed statistically (deals with large and diverse groups). Many ethnographers have not acquired detailed knowledge of statistics

Mariza's Group

Well-Informed Informants

Well Informed Informants are people who by accident, talent, or training can provide the most complete or usual info about particular aspects of life.

ex – In Ivato, the Betsileo village, an anthropologist spent time learning about its village with Tuesdayfather

Life Histories

- In non-industrial societies, personalities, interests and abilities are different

- Anthropologists have likes/dislikes in the field just like us

- When someone unusually interesting is found, his/her life history is collected

Provides an intimate and cultural portrait and can reveal how people perceive, react, and contribute to their life dangers.

- Life histories refer to information compiled of the personalities, life experience of an individual’s life

- Learning smaller parts, give bigger picture

Emic and Ethic

Emic (actor oriented)

- Illustrates native’s way of life

- Informants/native’s point of view

- Information from informants (their statements)

Etic (observer oriented)

- Researcher/Anthropologist’s view

- Shifts research focus from native categories to those of the anthropologist

- Understanding of native ways through the anthropologist’s reasoning

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