Ethography and Resreach

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AN INSIGHT INTO THE WORLD OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH INTRODUCTION ‘All of us are watchers -- of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway -- but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing.’ Peter M. Leschak (Anderson 2011:28) Ethnographic research is about observing and capturing people’s lives in a systematic and authentic manner. The term ‘ethnography’ is derived from two Greek words; ‘graphy’ from the Greek verb meaning ‘to write’ and ‘ethno’ from the Greek noun ethnos, usually translated in English as ‘nation’ or ‘tribe’ or ‘people group’. The original Greek word for ethnos is ‘eáqnov’ and the New Testament Greek Lexicon defines it as: A multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together – a company, a troop, a swarm and even a human family. Thus when we talk about ethnography, ‘ethnos’ as a unit of analysis need not always be associated with the concept of a nation, linguistic group, region, or village, but can incorporate any social entity which has functionality and social relations regulated by custom. A family, a school classroom, an entire school, a work group in a factory, a whole factory are therefore different social units that can be described ethnographically (as well as non-ethnographically). For example, David M. Fetterman (2010), an ethnographer, refers extensively in his work about his experiences in the various ethnographic studies conducted at classroom and school settings. DEFINING ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Taking into account the wide scope and arena which encompasses ethnographic study, a brief glimpse at the multiple efforts made by anthropologists and ethnographers to define the concept would provide further insight. Bronislaw Malinowski stated that the goal of the anthropologist, or ethnographer, is ‘to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of
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