ethnography project

For this class you will get to work on a fun and amazing project. You will need to write an ethnography on a culture of your choice that you do not belong to. To help you work through the project there will be discussions boards set up help you with ideas and to make sure you are progressing. They will be part of the points toward the final project. If you press next you will find the instructions for the project.

You will need to first be able to answer what is a subculture. The first chapter should give you a good sense of this. You can also start looking around on the internet about subcultures to add to your information.

For this assignment, you’ll learn about a subculture by observing and experiencing it firsthand and participating in it. Be you begin, review the following terminology in your textbook and/or lesson; ascribed vs. achieved status, cultural materialism, cultural relativism, dialect, emic and etic, ethnography, gender, key informants, kinesics, participant –observation, ritual, stratification, style-shifting, subculture, and symbol.

To help you work through the project there will be mico-deadlines to make sure you are progressing.

· Brainstorming possible cultures - ones you do not belong to

· Questions to ask the people you are interviewing

· Rough draft

· Final project

Choose a subculture that is easily recognized for its own, unique characteristics buy “outsiders” (i.e. those who are not part of the subculture), and consists of a group of people who all share the same worldview or beliefs, have a common goal, or purpose, are of the same nationality, etc. Choose a specific group to write about, rather than one that has a really broad scope (e.g. a major religion would be too broad, but a specific denomination, mosque, church, or temple would be fine). This should not be a subculture you belong to. This will give you a chance to look at the emic and etic point of view like an anthropologist does.

This assignment will allow you to practice an anthropological approach, which includes:

1. Participant-observation: try choosing a subculture for which you can attend an event or a ritual and, ideally have the opportunity to participate in it. If this is not possible, interview your informants in a setting related to their subculture or where their events/traditions take place (e.g. workplace, sacred place, studio, university campus, etc.).

· Open-ended interviews: in addition to making observations, you need to collect your data by interviewing at least two people who are members of this subculture (face-to-face interviews are the best!). Construct questions that allow your informants to provide you with detailed responses. You must devise in-depth questions that are structured around a topic in the outline. Put a lot of careful thought into this. You might find it necessary to interview your informant more than once to collect enough data with which to write your paper

2. Cross-cultural comparison, holistic perspective, and applying cultural relativism: you’ll be doing this when you address the section and follow instructions in the outline below

The result will be a ‘mini- ethnography’ of a particular subculture within American society. An ethnography is not the same thing as a research paper; you will not be conducting a literature search for this assignment. Keep in mind that this is an ethnography of a subculture/group/community, not of a particular tradition, ritual, or holiday (though your paper may include several of these, they should not form the main focus of your paper). For the purpose of this assignment we’re broadening the definition of a subculture to include activities that might be of interest to you (e.g. hobbies, sports, occupations, religious activities, etc.) Examples of past student ethnography topics: firefighter, surfing, nursing, hip hop, reform Judaism, US Navy, a particular fraternity, Vietnamese- American in Garden Grove, board gaming.

The only restrictions are that you must choose a subculture you are not already a part of, and students will not be permitted to study a subculture with a focus on any of the following: violence or causing harm to others; discrimination towards other groups; drugs or drug-related topic; or sex/pornography.

· Choose at least two informants. This is not a research paper, but one that is based on information that you will obtain through interviews, observations, and if possible, participation. To use an unbiased approach, interview your informants individually so they do not influence each other’s answers.

· Devise your own, open-ended questions that will allow you to obtain in-depth information to address all of the sections below. Each individual will likely have a slightly different experience as a member of that culture. Take advantage of that by tailoring your questions to your informants. In other words, ask each person questions that pertain to their individual roles, positions, or experiences in the subculture.

· Submit your informants’ responses with your paper. Whether you take notes by hand or make audio/video recordings of your interviews, you must provide a typed transcription of your interview notes with your assignment (including dates, times, and places or your interviews at the top). Include them in a separate section at the end of your paper (you can call it ‘interview notes’). Points will be deducted from assignment without interview notes.

Your paper must be typed using Microsoft Word or saved as a docx. Include each of the sections in the outline in the next section and follow the format below:

· At least five pages in length

· Double spaced

· 12 point font

· Default margin (1” top/bottom. 1”left/right)

· Include interview notes at the end of your paper (include dates, times, and places of the interviews at the top).

Make sure your paper is very detailed- as if I have never heard of the subculture before! Since you will be writing about your own experience and understanding of this subculture and describing the culture from others’ perspectives, you need to use both a first-person and third-person voice throughout the paper. Organize your paper in the following six sections (include the heading/titles in your paper in the same order they occur below.

1. Introduction:

· Provide a brief description of the subculture (including the characteristics, attributes, etc., that unite members of this group).

· Introduce your informants (not necessarily to include their names, but describe their roles or positions in the subculture and some brief details about them).

· Briefly describe when and where the interviews, events, etc., took place.

2. Worldviews, Ideals, and Beliefs:

· Describe some of the worldviews, beliefs, values, attitudes, etc., shared by members of this subculture.

· Consider whether they share a common way of thinking, philosophy, ideology, religion, etc. (e.g., superstitions, discrimination, common goals…)

3. Cultural Rule:

· Discuss several examples of this group’s cultural rules and possibly unwritten rules ( this might be harder to uncover, as unwritten rules are those people don’t recognize).

· Describe some of the status differences that exist in this subculture or examples of stratification.

· Discuss any gender-related issues present in this community

4. Traditions, Rituals and Symbols:

· Include detailed descriptions of at least two traditions, rituals, or other activities described by your informants and/or that you observed or participated in. If possible, discuss a ritual (religious or secular/non-religious) in detail, including an explanation of why it qualifies as a ritual (i.e., what makes it ritualistic in nature?).

· Choose a particular aspect of a ritual/tradition/activity – such as an action, object, an article of clothing, a color, etc. – for which you can discover and describe:

· It’s the symbolic significance (emic perspective) and the practical reason(s) behind it, or a cultural materialist explanation for it (etic perspective).

5. Communication:

· Consider whether this subculture uses specialized terminology, codes, jargon, or slang that is unique to this group. If so, provide several examples with a brief description of each. OR:

· If this subculture uses a dialect of English, provide some detailed examples and descriptions.

· Explain how style-shifting is used in this subculture and provide some detailed examples

· Describe at least one example of kinesics (non-verbal communication) you observed.

6. Conclusion:

· Briefly describe this subculture using an etic perspective. Then, think about the ‘’outside’’ view of this group, their traditions, cultural rules, beliefs, and/or ways of speaking (positive or negative).

· Use cross-cultural comparison to compare and contrast one or more aspects of this subculture to mainstream American culture (or a subculture you belong to). Describe some of the similarities and differences between the two groups.

· Discuss the importance of practicing Cultural Relativism when studying, observing, and learning about a culture that is different from your own.