An ethnography is a descriptive study of a cultural group that collects cultural data like stories, artifacts, language characteristics, and participates in shared behaviors. It aims to create a thick description of the group through qualitative and quantitative data. An ethnography provides a scientific account of the cultural behaviors of a bounded group through their ethnographic present using mixed methods from an emic perspective to develop models of human behavior within that group.

1. Ethnography
ANT 2140
Rachel Wayne

2. What is Ethnography?
 Collecting cultural data
 stories (folklore, myths, history, urban legends,
personal stories)
 artifacts (art, tools, buildings, etc.)
 idioms and dialectal characteristics
 Creating a “thick description”
 more detail = less uninformed interpretation
 more detail = more research questions
 Participating in shared behaviors
 Gaining rapport with informants

3. What is an Ethnography?
 A descriptive record of a group of people.
 can be bounded by ethnicity, nationality, shared
distinctive behaviors (e.g. participation in a sport,
membership in a political party), or shared specific
beliefs (e.g. religious beliefs.
 is temporally and spatially grounded (the ethnographic
present).
 is an inductive approach that uses quantitative data
with an emic perspective.

4. What is an Ethnography?
 A scientific account of cultural behaviors.
 uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative data to
develop models of human behavior.
 may be inductive (ex. neurological model of language,
with data on situational use of language) or deductive
(ex. cross-analyzing church attendance with political
party)
 can track social networks, language use, and genetic
relations.
 generally uses a larger group of informants (10+).

5. Evaluation
 Is this video thick in its description?
 Is this video emic or etic in its approach to the
(sub)culture?
 If etic, does it give a relatively objective portrayal?
 If emic, does it allow outsiders to gain an understanding
of the (sub)culture?
 Are informants represented equally, fully, and fairly?
 Does the video ask more questions than it answers?
(Hint: It should.)

6. Videos
 En Restaurantes Hispanicos (6 min)
 Art for Our Sake (5 min)
 Gender in the Zombie Culture (8 min)
 Maienbaumfest (6 min)