Arising here is a direct challenge to positivist ethnography where questions about the relationship between facts and values, and between researchers and practitioners hammersley, 1992, p. Conversely, ethnography which is strictly linked to ethnology focuses on the analysis of rituals, traditions and ceremonies within the context of smaller social groups, like tribes and clans. Of these qualitative approaches, ethnography is a method quite amenable to medicine, and the application of ethnography to healthcare is widely supported. Increasingly, however, the distinction between the two is coming.
Ethnography is a methodology within the general discipline of anthropology the study of the human. This kind of research is individualistic and provides the researcher with information regarding a persons unique experience. Ethnography, descriptive study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study. While anthropology aims at achieving a holistic understand of mans history and evolution, ethnography focuses on smaller scale analysis. Ethnology deals with the origins and characteristics of individual ethnic groups with a focus on factors influencing cultural growth and change. In contextanthropologylangen terms the difference between ethnography and ethnology is that ethnography is anthropology the branch of anthropology that scientifically describes specific human cultures and societies while ethnology is anthropology the branch of anthropology that studies and compares. Gitlin phd, in introduction to research fifth edition, 2016. Mar 25, 2012 the differences between phenomenological and ethnographic research are numerous. Ethnography focuses on single cultures or specific structures within one culture, while ethnology is a study of the members and structures. Ethnography is a result of ethnology that is another sociological study in which we try to understand the various reasons for why and how people in the past and the present differ from each other. In this chapter, sibeud follows the editors aim for the volumes contributing authors to move beyond questions of individual or epistemological complicity in. Vermeulen, early history of ethnography and ethnology in. The methods of ethnology by franz boas, edited and with an. It will be of interest to academics and students across the social sciences but is particularly directed towards.
Examples how do you your view of 911 differs compared to someone 10 years older than you. Anthropology is not ethnography tim ingold fellow of the academy acceptable generalisation and unacceptable history the objective of anthropology, i believe, is to seek a generous, comparative but nevertheless critical understanding of human being and knowing in the one world we all inhabit. What is the difference between ethnology and ethnography. Ethnography a research method that attempts to understand the beliefs, practices, and behaviors of the culture of study from the perspective of those living within the culture ethnology. The distinction between ethnography and ethnology and other. Finally, the article assesses the engagement between ethnography and critical urban theory and argues in favour of grounding the latter better in the analysis of actual practices and. What is the impact of african american lesbians intersecting minority identities on their decision to come out. Rather, i understand sensory ethnography as a developing field of practice.
For hammersley, the problem of relevance brings into focus the relationship between contemporary ethnography and other forms of social practice. To gain a better understanding of what cultural anthropology is, one must understand ethnography and ethnology. Cultural anthropology ethnography vs ethnology alexsablan. Ethnology difference between ethnography and ethnology. There is a recursive relationship between the formal and informal organizational structure and rules in which its formal character is seen to be the result of the ad hoc negotiation processes and practical reasoning of its workers. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Ethnography can be briefly defined as the systematic study of people and cultures. Ethnography developed internally to ethnology, a discipline which in the first half of the nineteenth century split from traditional anthropology, which was then dominated by physical and.
Difference between ethnography and ethnology compare the. A foreshadowing research problem pertaining to my area of interest could be. It is designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study. But i was looking for the differences between ethnographic museums and ethnological museums or museums of ethnology.
Anthropologists aim to describe and interpret aspects of the culture of various social groupse. Difference between anthropology and ethnography compare. Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the characteristics of. So, an anthropologist who decides to spend an entire career on an indepth study of a tribal group in the amazon rain forest is, in effect, narrowing. For example, goodenough in his 1964a discussion uses this linguistic model to explicate the distinction between ethnography and comparative studies. Ethnography generic, no an or the article is the academic art of collecting cultural data about particular cultures, generally through the process of fieldwork, which to an anthropologist usually means living with, or among, the members of. Participant observationis a technique of field research used in anthropology by which. In particular, the debates have highlighted issues concerning the relationship between the researchers and their sub jects, as well as considerations about what can be known in the interview process. The main difference between ethnography and ethnology is that the ethnography is a qualitative research design aimed at exploring cultural phenomena and ethnology is a social science that deals with ethnies peoples. Principles in practice as will become clear later, for us ethnography or participant observation, a cognate term is simply one social research, methqd, albeit a somewhat unusual one, dratwion a wick range of sources of information. The ethnographic approach can be used to identify and attempt to explain cross cultural variation in cultural elements such as marriage, religion, subsistence practices. The difference between ethnology and social anthropology. Ethnology utilizes the data taken from ethnographic research and applies it to a single cross cultural topic. Critical ethnography theory and method critical ethnography is conventional ethnography with a political purpose.
They are the two minor branches of anthropology or the study of the history of man. Ethnology is concerned with taken common cultural elements of all the groups, notwithstanding pllaccortime. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and everyday life of the people who are the subject of the study. From academia to intervention book is not to argue for a single model of sensory ethnography. An overview of ethnography in healthcare and medical. Anthropology contra ethnography the university of aberdeen.
Given the intrusive nature of ethnography and anthropology in peoples lives there must be good. The methods of ethnology is among the two most taught and anthologized essay by franz boas, the founder of american anthropology, and i include it here to give you a sense of who boas was and what he thought. Moreover, participant observation is an anthropological way of working, not a method of ethnographic data collection. Afer completng your observatons, you will write an ethnographic report that includes an ethnology crosscultural comparison. Organize your ethnography using the following subheadings. Cultural anthropology deals with all aspects of human culture from social to religious, to political, and beyond. In particular, a form of ethnography known as focused. Ethnography and ethnology show differences between them when it comes to their subject matter. December 19, 2017, giulia squadrin, leave a comment. Introducton, methodology, data presentaton and analysis, ethnology, conclusion.
Boas is famous for doing ethnography, not talking about it. To gain a better understanding of what cultural anthropology is. The difference as you describe it is also implicit in the names of these disciplines. Ethnography is a field of anthropological research based on direct observation of and reporting on a peoples way of life. I argue that to attribute ethnographicness to encounters with those among whom we carry on our research, or more generally to fieldwork, is to undermine both the ontological commitment and the educational purpose of anthropology as a discipline. Since cultural phenomena can seldom be studied under conditions of experiment or control, comparative data from the total range of human behavior helps the ethnologist to avoid those assumptions about human nature that may be implicit in the.
Ethnography, cultural and social anthropology escholarship. Cultural anthropology ethnography vs ethnology cultural anthropology is the scientific study of cultures and how they are different or similar from each other all around the world. A methodological adaptation for social research in emerging contexts. Both, ethnography and ethnology, are natural sciences. It was pioneered in the field of sociocultural anthropology but has also become a popular method in. This was the war between ethnology and anthropology. Jim thomas, doing critical ethnography1993 we should not choose between critical theory and ethnography. Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct contact with the culture. Ethnography is a form of qualitative research that is subjectcentered and a way to understand subjects on their own terms. The difference between ethnology and anthropology is. Holstein o nce upon a time, stories were told and written for what they were about. Ethnology is a branch within cultural anthropology.
Groups are typically studied in ethnography but individuals have been studied as well. It will be of interest to academics and students across the social sciences but is particularly directed towards novice researchers. Ethnography is often referred to as culture writing, and it refers to a type of. Classic ethnography was conducted by etic researchers in previously unexplored. The elusive bureau of colonial ethnography in france, 19071925. Ethnography is one of the oldest qualitative methods, yet increasingly, researchers from various disciplines are using and adapting ethnography beyond its original intents. Ethnography and culture debate between those who wanted to treat culture as something sui generis and those who wanted to treat it as a collection of individuals. Doing sensory ethnography 1 situating sensory ethnography.
The data presented in this book support the thesis that anthropology, in its socio cultural guise, originated as ethnography and ethnology in the work of. Ethnography from greek word ethnos folkpeople and grapho to write is a qualitative research method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group agar 1996. Qualitative research critical ethnography guidelines. Instead, we see that researchers are cutting new paths to reinscribing critique in ethnography. An older term with partially overlapping meaning is ethnology, but this is now. Within the field of usability, usercentred design and service design, ethnography is used to support a designers deeper understanding of the design problem including the relevant domain, audiences, processes, goals and contexts of use. As with any science, the ethnography of communication has two foci.
Ethnology is the comparative study of two or more cultures. The latter, a term more widely used in europe, encompasses the analytical and comparative study of cultures in general, which in american usage is the academic field known as cultural anthropology in british usage, social anthropology. Ethnography principles in practice jyvaskylan yliopisto. Phenomenology, ethnography, and grounded theory prezi.
Open library is an initiative of the internet archive, a 501c3 nonprofit, building a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. The differences between phenomenological and ethnographic research are numerous. Ethnographic subjects are usually cultural groups, such as communities. Phenomenological research seeks to understand the subjective, lived experiences and perspectives of participants.
The difference between ethnology and social anthropology essay. Ethnography, a primary method used in the discipline of anthropology, is a systematic approach to understanding the beliefs, rituals, patterns, and institutions that define a culture. Philosophical ethnography, as i am using the term, is a methodological hybrid that uses in terviews and observations to identify normative issues, to map out the meaning systems rules, common intra cultural understandings, shared aims, etc in which they are imbedded, and, where. Despite this affinity, there are some differences between the two disciplines. While we have seen some use of qualitative research within healthcare and medical education, it is underrepresented compared to its quantitative counterpart. Ethnography and ethnology are related disciplines within the field of cultural anthropology. Thus, the distinction between ethnography and ethnology in terms of this discourse is frequently phrased as an eticemic distinction see pike 1954 for its original use. Journal of contemporary ethnography ethnographic research. The terms ethnography and ethnology refer to two natural sciences disciplines that focus on the study of the history of man.
Oct 22, 2012 ethnography began as a study to learn about human nature, social affiliation, and the conduct of daily life mariampolski, 2006. What is the difference between ethnography and ethnology. It is a means to represent graphically and in writing the culture of a group. There has been some confusion regarding the terms ethnography and ethnology. Ethnography and ethnology are two smaller branches of anthropology and focus on slightly different aspects of the life and. The ancients wrote love stories, recorded histories of military campaigns, produced treatises on flora and fauna, medical texts, and philosophical discourses, and recounted oral histories of countless domains of. Classic ethnography was conducted by etic researchers in previously unexplored remote geographies of the globe with the aim of using knowledge of isolated. Ethnography is a kind of social research and the product of this kind of research. Research ethics in ethnographyanthropology european. Ethnographic subjects are usually cultural groups, such as communities, tribes, or dialect groups. We demonstrate how online spaces influence everyday social life, and then discuss multisited ethnography and the process of adopting innovative ideas, such as including digital data collection, as an ethnographic tool. Ethnography was popularised by anthropology, but is used across a wide range of social sciences. In your groups, come up with a grounded theory using the information we shared about september 11, 2001 three types of stages of data analysis types data collection, analysis, and report.
Ethnography has become a term so overused, both in anthropology and in contingent disciplines, that it has lost much of its meaning. The pivotal question of twentieth century ethnography is the product of the foregoing epistemic and metaphysical issues. Culturein collectives of differing magnitude, whether educational institutions, student communities, classrooms, or activity groupsis treated as heterogeneous, conflictual, negotiated, and evolving, as distinct from unified. Phenomenological research seeks to understand the subjective, lived experiences. As such, ethnography is the core method of cultural anthropology. Usually, the way of thinking and acting vary from one person to another as well as from one culture to another culture. In the present, wholly uncontroversial article i shall first define the aims of cultural anthropology as i understand them and shall then inquire intq the relations of. As the definitions discussed above indicate, a set of existing methods is already. Ethnography deals with the procedures carried out in any society.