English

The Discourse Community Ethnography will require even more primary research. Please read and take good notes on Seth Kahn's "Putting Ethnographic Writing in Context." Come to class with a print version of the article, marked up appropriately, and respond to the following question in writing (no need to upload, but bring your responses to class).

1. Kahn emphasizes on page 176 the social nature of ethnographic research and writing. He also says that such projects require you to experiment with style, voice, structure and purpose--and he later gives some examples from his own experience. Relate what he says in those first two full paragraphs on 176 to the discourse community ethnography specifically. For instance, how might this project "help you reflect on your own position with cultures"? How might it "improve the lives of the people you write about"?

2. What "risks and benefits" can you anticipate for people participating in your project?

3. Think for a bit about doing observations and conducting interviews (you might want to review Driscoll's article on primary research here).

• What do you plan to "observe," and why?
• What kind of information do you want to learn through interviews? What kinds of questions will get you the information you want?

On page 177 Kahn talks about the various ways you should expect to use writing in producing your ethnography: not only to writing drafts, but in brainstorming your existing knowledge about the group, your biases and preconceptions; using formal consent forms with the group you're observing; taking notes during your interviews/observations; maintaining a journal along the way in which you think about "what you're seeing, what you think is important, what you need to pursue further, what you're confused about," etc. PAY ATTENTION HERE! You should be doing these things as you go along!

We'll discuss primary research again (especially observations and surveys), and compile some interview questions for the DCE project as a group.