Ethnographies in context and as fictional representations

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

9 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/18/2009

Category :

Law & contracts

Sub category :

Sociology

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Summary :

Introduction
The sociology of the environment of social anthropologists
1. Instances of institutional contexts
2. Politics of the academy
3. The traditional emphasis on how data is to be collected and presented
The discussion that, 'They must become autobiographical...'
1. A partial discussion
2. The sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh
3. Venkatesh's work
4. Partial Truths by Clifford
Contaminating the evidence
1. Feminist ethnographers
2. Venkatesh's Gang Leader For a Day
3. His close relationship with J.T
4. The effect that limited access can have on ethnography
Conclusion
Sources

Abstract

Empirical observation and objective analysis are some of the core tenets of sound scientific inquiry. These processes lead to the recording of data and presentation of findings which confirm or disprove hypotheses, thus renewing the drive for further studies. Particularly in the social sciences, this is more of an ideal than a reality. The nature of social processes and interactions does not lend itself to concrete physical observations that can be homogeneously interpreted, and hence social theories are never definitively proven. In the past, anthropologists have maintained that a fully "scientific" study of a foreign culture was an attainable goal; as such, they have traditionally rejected any work that was not considered objective enough. The postmodern movement within anthropology has rejected the traditional stance that ethnographies somehow present a complete analysis of a given culture. These scholars argue that ethnographers should embrace the "ethnography as fiction" concept as a vehicle for imbuing their work with a personalized, biographical richness and depth that could not be achieved with objectivity as the ideal.