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Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 16

Using Ethnographic Methods

A layered image shows a large crowd of men waving their hands in the air.

In this unit (to accompany the SAPIENS podcast S6E8), students will learn that ethnography is a research process that involves fieldwork and studying the cultural practices of a group of people in situ. According to Bronislaw Malinowski, the final goal of ethnography is “to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world.” In this unit, students will explore fundamental ethnographic principles and look at the nature of culture as it relates to social, economic, and historical factors.

Learning Objectives
  • Discuss the fundamental principles of ethnographic methods to understand and explore culture.
  • Examine the dynamic nature of culture and its relationship to various social, economic, and historical factors.
Sapiens articles
NASA anthropologist - Jack Stuster with a NASA space shuttle.
interview / Lab Bench

Can Anthropologists Propel Astronauts Toward Mars?

Amber Dance
Space anthropologist Jack Stuster has interviewed and observed astronauts for decades. In a Q&A, Stuster tells journalist Amber Dance how he has worked closely with NASA to improve the human experience of space exploration.
cocoa production - Chocolate comes from processing the seeds found in the fruit, or “pods” (shown here), of the cacao tree.
essay / Crossroads

The Bitter Side of Cocoa Production

Teresa Carr
An anthropologist works to give producers a voice in the chocolate industry, taking a lesson from high-end coffee, wine, and cheese.
Keywords
View All in Methods
Under an arched ceiling, a person wearing a white headwrap and T-shirt nestles a pencil in the palm of their hand while drawing with charcoal on a large white canvas. The scene they are sketching depicts a building and public square flanked by flowering trees.
photo-essay / Expressions

The Vibrant Worlds of Batuan Paintings in Bali

Annie Tucker and Robert Lemelson
A new multimedia project connects the development of a Balinese regional painting style with anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, who began commissioning art in the region in the 1930s.
A small mammal with brown fur sits on a grassy field with few blades of grass sticking out of its mouth.
essay / Decoded

Ancient Pollen Is Hiding in a Surprising Place

Lynne Quick
A paleoecologist explains what pollen in fossilized mammal urine can reveal about past ecosystems and environmental change.
A landscape features a grassy complex with a large, tiered structure made of stones that towers upward toward a blue, cloud-filled sky. Mountains taller than the structure are barely visible behind clouds in the distance.
essay / Decoded

Decoding Diversity and Power at Machu Picchu

Roberta Davidson
New DNA analysis has revealed surprising diversity among remains from burial sites in Peru. A genetic anthropologist explains what this suggests about the 15th century Inca palace.
In a science lab, a masked person wearing a white hazmat suit, face shield, and bouffant cap holds small objects under the glass hood of a silver metal workstation.
essay / Redux

The Hidden Ancestry Extracted From an Ancient Pendant

Michelle Langley
An anthropologist explains how new forensics tools offer unprecedented answers to questions about who likely held or wore Stone Age objects.
A graphic features a mastodon with its head raised and mouth open on rocky ground in front of a blue sky filled with swirling lights.
essay / Decoded

Forensic Methods Unveil Clues About Megafauna Extinctions

Christopher R. Moore
An archaeologist explains how novel applications of forensic methods—namely, blood residue analyses—have yielded evidence that Paleoindians hunted mastodons, mammoths, and other megafauna in eastern North America 13,000 years ago.
A black silhouette of a person contrasts with an illuminated cobalt-blue background with two bright spotlights shining from behind their head.
essay / Expressions

Bringing Nhakpoti, the Kayapó Story of Star Girl, to the Screen

Paul Chilsen, Glenn H. Shepard Jr., and Pat-i Kayapó
Over years and across long distances, an international filmmaking team collaborated to bring to life the origin story of how agriculture came to Kayapó communities, Indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon.
View All in Place
A person wearing a brown floral shirt, red beaded necklace, and feather in their hair closes their eyes. In a blurred background, other people—one holding a red-and-white STOP sign—gather on a lawn in front of a white building.
essay / Viewpoint

Archaeological Tropes That Perpetuate Colonialism

Nicholas C. Laluk and Joseph Aguilar
Two Indigenous archaeologists from the U.S. Southwest shed light on how “abandonment” and other common archaeological terms continue to cause harm. They offer insights into how to rewrite narratives of the past.
An adult stands behind a child loading laundry into a white washing machine. A refrigerator, microwave oven, stove, and wooden cabinets line the room.
essay / Excerpt

Do Washing Machines Belong in Kitchens? Many Brits Say “Yes.”

Kirsten Bell
An anthropologist moves from Canada to the U.K. and finds herself reflecting on what home design patterns reveal about a society.
A close-up image features a mostly red, woven piece of cloth with diagonal patterns that incorporate white, black, green, and hot pink accents.
poem / Counterpoint

Feeling What We Are/A’yel jtaleltik

Delmar Ulises Méndez-Gómez
An anthropologist and writer from the Tseltal community speaks back to a colonialist history of suppression—instead claiming his identity, language, and people.
A black-and-white film still features a person wearing a hoodie, clear vest, and cap looks upward at the face of a person holding small objects in front of them with a gloved hand. The two are on rocky terrain in front of a graffiti-covered stone wall.
video / Unearthed

Excavating a 19th-Century Detroit Saloon

Aaron Martin
A filmmaker highlights the work of urban archaeologists who are excavating the site of a woman-owned business that opened in the late 1800s.
A person’s gloved hands touch an Amazon-labeled cardboard box that is one of several packages.
essay / Participant Observation

The Anthropology Professor in an Amazon Warehouse

Orin Starn
To learn what conditions are really like for Amazon workers, an anthropologist has joined their ranks.
A photograph taken from under a large building’s awning looks out to show a fountain with green and red tress lining either side. The building’s stone pillars line the foreground.
poem / Human Rights

When I See Spring in Your Eyes/yeli bU’ vuċh canen Ạċhen mnz nō bhar

Toiba Naseema
A poet-anthropologist from Indian-occupied Kashmir speaks of hope as inherited through memories of resilience in the past and present.
View All in Disasters
Two people wearing waterproof pants, purple windbreakers, and black caps stand on a teal boat at sea, looking toward a white windmill.
essay / Excerpt

The Persistence of Fukushima’s Fisherfolk

Satsuki Takahashi
In a new book, an anthropologist with long-term ties to northeastern Japan shares stories of how fishing communities have continued making a living in uncertain waters after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster.
An image shows a tan llama’s head and torso against a beige, sandy ground.
essay / Unearthed

Unearthing Culinary Pasts—With Help From Llama Poop

Katherine L. Chiou
A food archaeologist investigates everyday eating and lean times among the ancient Moche of Peru through a remarkable discovery of thousands of llama “beans.”
Several people wearing puffy hooded coats, beanies, windbreakers, and backpacks watch lava and smoke pour out of a volcano on the horizon.
essay / Maladies

Slow Death by Volcano

Adam Netzer Zimmer
A biocultural anthropologist shares new research on the surprising long-term hazards of volcanoes in Iceland—and how to address them.
A photograph features several people wearing caps, sports jackets, khaki pants, and rainboots gathered on a mountainside plot of dirt, grass, and trees. Several are carrying wooden sticks.
essay / Wayfinding

When Disaster Tests the Strength of Human Cooperation

A.J. Faas
In the Andes, minga, a form of collective labor, has existed for centuries, often helping communities weather disasters. But how does it work in practice?
A photograph features a narrow street lined with tall white and beige buildings. Left of the photo’s center, a large telephone pole has numerous wires extending from it.
essay / Field Notes

In Lebanon, Solar Power Is Booming. Why?

Kristin V. Monroe
An anthropologist explores whether Lebanese turning to solar power is a story of resilience, environmental triumph, or something else.
A person wearing bright blue gloves stands on rocks next to a body of water holding dirty individual masks that have become waste.
op-ed / Crisis

Should You Feel Bad About Your Pandemic-Era Plastic Waste?

Justin Lau and Michelle Cheng
Anthropologists in Hong Kong explore how COVID-19 has intensified consumers’ reliance on single-use plastics—revealing the limits of individual action in the face of a global crisis.
Glossary
Triangulation

  1. Using multiple data sources and methods to devise a comprehensive understanding of phenomena in qualitative research.

Professor Talking Points
  • Discuss the different ways to collect data in ethnographic research. Much of the data used in an ethnography comes from researcher observation and participation. However, those are not the sole sources of information.
  • Evidence also comes through a research method called passive observation. This can be done through documenting or taking notes on photographs, audio and video recordings, and other artifacts. This allows the researcher to maintain objectivity. It also mitigates any altered behavior that may result from researcher participation. Discuss the usefulness of passive observations and areas where they may be lacking.
  • Discuss a famous ethnographic study and how available technology can impact methods. An example would be Malinowski’s work in the Trobriand Islands. In Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Malinowski described a ceremonial exchange of shell valuables called the kula ring. Malinowski’s mentor had provided him with a camera, a phonograph, and other anthropometric instruments for use in his work. Malinowski reported, “My weakest points are photographs and phonographic records … whenever skill comes into play I am not much good.” Have students discuss the role technology played in the study and how this advances ethnographic work.
  • Ethnography is typically considered a qualitative methodology used in the social and behavioral sciences. Discuss how ethnography could be useful as an element in a mixed methods research project.
Academic Articles

  1. Nader, Laura. “Ethnography as Theory.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 1, no.1 (2011): 211-219.

  2. Miller, Daniel. 2017. “Anthropology is the Discipline but the Goal is Ethnography.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7, no. 1 (2017): 27-31.

  3. Shah, Alpa. 2017. “Ethnography? Participant Observation, a Potentially Revolutionary Praxis.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7, no. 1 (2017): 45-59.

Student Discussion Questions
  • How does conducting an ethnographic study differ from other types of research?
  • What are some of the practical considerations that need to be taken into account before conducting an ethnography?
  • How does culture change over time?
  • What are some different ways a researcher can participate in ethnography?
Activities

Consider the following scenario and then provide answers to the questions below. Each answer should be one to two sentences in length.

You are a doctoral student from planet X. Your dissertation involves conducting an ethnography of human activity on planet Earth. Place yourself in a location where you can be a part of human behavior (or recall an event you have experienced, such as a holiday celebration, sporting event, etc., and try to imagine it as an outsider with no frame of reference for the activity). You have completed your experience and are ready to write your report, which answers the following questions.

  1. What is the name of the activity?
  2. What is the activity’s purpose?
  3. What procedures or protocols exist?
  4. What are the activity’s time, space, and location requirements?
  5. What personnel are required for the activity?
  6. What is the nature of the group or social organization participating in the activity?
  7. What are the occasions of the activity (specific date, frequency, etc.)?

After completing the “report questions,” please answer this reflection question.

How would you use this information to construct theories about your subjects?

Slides

Infographic: Ethnography Advantages and Disadvantages

Slides: Using Ethnographic Methods

Additional Resources

  1. Article: Emerald Publishing’s “How to Use Ethnographic Methods and Participant Observation.”

  2. Book: Stephen Bochner’s Cultures in Contact: Studies in Cross-Cultural Interaction

Unit By

Aimee L. Richards, Freedom Learning Group

Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
-
Unit 17

Looking Back at Coming of Age

A small group of children run around under a tree, smiling happily.