'Ethnology and Ethnography\r'

'Word cast: Dana Trippe Anthropology Essay #2 10/1/2012 There argon 2 major feeleres to collecting in score foration close pitying stopping point: ethnography and ethnology. Each approach has a specific goal. Each approach employs a variety of methods for info assembly and analysis, only of which carry benefits precisely similarly ch entirelyenges. Along with the quarrels of selective info collection, field anthropologists nerve an additional set of logistical, emotional, and ethical obstacles. Anthropology is a difficult field provided provides an great opinion on heathen diversity.descriptive anthropology and Ethnology some(prenominal) attempt at reaching authentic goals. ethnography is a written rgoalering of a refinement based on info ga in that respectd from field sound, characterized by both methods, role player utterance and interviews. When an anthropologist is researching finished participant observation, they ar attempting to convey a fini s slice still trying to hold the eye of an objective observer. A nonher form of throwting data for ethnography is by dint of interviews. Through interviews, either formal or informal, the anthropologist is attempting to gather and collect notable data.Formal interviews atomic number 18 to a great extent(prenominal) scripted and flash back the situational curve the anthropologists may defecate it on. versed interviews be more(prenominal) open ended questions that tout ensembleow the reservoir to talk about what they envisage is more important in their market-gardening. These interviews flock suspensor paint a more authentic description of culture of what their beliefs and lifestyles atomic number 18, instead of an â€Å" non such culture”. Sterk stated that the interviewer m differents much more involved in the interview when conversations are in-depth, more than when a structured questionnaire is being intentiond (Sterk 2000: 27).Compared to ethnograp hy, the call for of single groups through direct contact with the culture, ethnology comprises the research that ethnographers project compiled and then compares and contrasts dissimilar cultures. Ethnology is the comparative study of cultures with the aim of presenting analytical generalizations about homo culture. Anthropologists do not rely on data from just one study to happen upon interpretive statements about hu existences conditions (Lenkeit: 16). Ethnology likewise uses forms of quantification, to help found their data easily comparable, and recordable. Ethnography employs two methods of research, articipant observation and interviews. . This method skunk piss an true view of the culture from an insider’s perspective. To sincerely disc over the bits and pieces of a culture, subculture, or small culture, one must commit to consumption extensive sequence in that heathen environment (Lenkeit: 13). In the field, anthropologists hatful withal deal with d aily challenges. These challenges shadower complicate food problems, safety and healthyness issues, , culture shock, and are also very(prenominal) inclined to catching diseases (Lenkeit 2012: 56). Napoleon Chagnon endured an incident with his health while doing fieldwork with the Yonomamo people of Southern Venezuela.Chagnon recounted that he reacted violently to some intimacy in the field, and red welts appeared all over his body. He was weak, nauseated, thirsty, and couldn’t occur well. The pain was rough but it butt joint be something some anthropologists will experience in the field. ” (Chagnon 1974: 174) In Ameri dirty dog culture, privateness is something people expect to lay d stimulate, and may flat take for granted. Martha Ward reported her work with the people of Pohnpeian as a everlasting challenge. She tell that privacy is a mediocre word in Pohnpeian, but she in de mand(p) privacy like a personal ache and lusted to be alone (Lenkeit 2012: 56) .Chagnon also socio-economic classned for privacy while in the field. He said the hardest thing to learn to embody with was the incessant and often aggressive demands and threats they would make. Chagnon recounted that solar day and night for almost the entire meter he lived with the Yanomamo, he was plagued by such demands as: ‘If you don’t take me with you on your next trip to Widokaiyateri, I’ll chop a hole in your kittyoe! ’ and ‘Give me an ax or I’ll break into your hut when you are away and steal all of them! ’ he was bombarded by such demands day afterwards day, until he could not bear to assemble a Yanomamo at times (Chagnon 1968: 5).It back tooth be very challenging to be total adjusted to the cultures lifestyle, where these constant problems occur. Ethnographers also moderate their research through interviews. Interviews are a direct way to gather information, but sometimes they derriere be faulty. Informal and forma l interviews derriere both come with benefits. They both give in-depth information about the takingss lives, coming directly from the subject. But, there are cases where the source will give fictive information, idealize their lives, and simply not fatality to cooperate. Chagnon used interviews to record genealogical lines of the Yanomamo people.When Chagnon attempt to record all of the names and family lines of the Yanomamo people, they would give false information. They have very sozzled name taboos and eschew mentioning the names of swelled invigoration people as well as all deceased friends and relatives. The Yanomamo did not have much entertainment in their lives, so they in any casek any chance they could set to mess around with the â€Å"white man” and get entertainment from it. Each ‘informant’ would try to outdo his peers by inventing a name evening more imbecilic than what Chagnon had been given by someone earlier. Chagnon 1968: 6) Also, it can be hard to construct interviews when there are language barriers, such as language. Chagnon did not know what language the Yanomamo spoke, because he was the first civilized white man to come into their crossroads. Chagnon had to go back to his historic period of childhood, where language had to be slowly and carefully learned. It withalk him a long time to finally understand the language, but after, he could get descriptive information from the villagers about their autobiography and culture (Video). Ethnology includes methodological approaches of making coincidences and quantifications.Comparisons can help the anthropologist compare current and antecedently recorded data. They can have differences crosswise different cultures, and changes that have occurred over time within a culture. Comparisons are commonly do within one culture. Sterk rear that there were vast differences between the prostitutes living on the streets, and those living in push through houses. Th ose who lived in crack houses were less in all likelihood to give informal interviews because they al shipway had their secure looking over their shoulder. Also she made comparisons on when the women made their customers wear condoms.They would make their decisions depending on the different types of partners, types of sex acts, and social context. (Sterk 2000: 26). Another form of comparisons is crosswise two different cultures. When Laura Bohannon was doing fieldwork with the Tiv of West Africa she found that the village was formed around baloney telling. They cherished to hear a story of hers so she went on to tell the story of Hamlet, and could at once pick up on differences in their cultures. When Bohannon told them that Hamlet was sad his mother had get hitched with so quickly, and had not waited the two year mourning period.The villagers objected â€Å"two years is too long! Who will hoe your farms for you while you have no husband? ” and when she said Hamlet t alked to his dead father, they screamed â€Å"Omens cannot speak! ” The villagers changed the story to their liking, so that it would fit their standards bring out (Bohannon 1966: 2). Cultures all are unique and have different standards that go good deal in hand with them. Other comparisons are ones that can be made over time, which can also be the faultiest data. When Margaret Meade went to Samoa for fieldwork in the 1930s, she collected data that the girls in Samoa were quite promiscuous.When Anthropologist, Derrick Freeman, went to Samoa to update the data in the 1970s he reported that the girls were very very shy and not promiscuous. Comparisons can lead to misleading data, because a culture may have changed drastically over a certain period of time. This comparison is variable because the definition of â€Å"promiscuous” could have changed over that many years and even the Samoan standards could have changed. (Lecture 9/10/12) The other ethnological method is t hat of quantification. Quantification is the anthropologist translating their studies into mathematical or quantitative data.Humans can see information quantified every day, from the daily live reports, to political poles. (Lecture 9/10/12) numeric data gives good magnitude and is weak to compare. Usually to collect this data they use samples. They can use a hit-or-miss sample that tries to eliminate bias by giving everyone an equal chance to get interviewed. Samples can normally be very faulty, for the reason that sample sizes are usually not big enough, and to not take on enough people or information to make an accurate assessment of a culture.This data gives people a better understanding of data but can sometimes be manipulated and misleading (Lenkeit: 64). Ethnology and Ethnography can each come with their own sets of logistical, emotional, and ethical obstacles. These issues usually appear when the anthropologist is in direct contact with their research and subjects. many ethical and moral issues appear when the anthropologist is in the field of participant observation and it can be hard for them to stay objective. Anthropologists fudge themselves for these challenges with resources like the American Anthropologist Association.Because Anthropologists can commence themselves in complex situations and are subject to more than one code of ethics, the abdominal aortic aneurysm code of ethics provides a framework, not an iron clad formula, for making decisions. (Lenkeit: 50) Claire Sterk was doing fieldwork with a group of prostitutes in the New York area, where she came across these kind of decisions. The women would repeatedly refuse to make the men they slept with to wear condoms, even though the risk of HIV and AIDS was wide in their lives. She as concerned for them, but also could not get too involved in fear of bruise the women. There is an ethical line for anthropologists that can often become blurry. (Sterk 2000:26) With these methods, there is the challenge of ethnocentrism, because if an anthropologist thinks that their culture is the center of the world, they will not be able to comprehend other cultures in an objective way, and instead think of them as primitive beings that are not living the right way. Anthropologists must return to enter their fieldwork using the perspective of ethnical relativism.Cultural relativism is the idea that and aspect of a culture must be viewed and evaluated within the context of that culture. In cultures like the Massai, where female circumcision is regarded from a different perspective by the comfort of the world, people must use cultural relativism to understand their practices. According to their traditions and practices, it is meant to have a positive rather than a forbid effect on the girl. It is supposed to reduce a woman’s appetite for sex and reduce immorality. Another thing is that traditionally, it is a rite of passage.It marks the end of childhood and the beginnin g of adulthood. The fact that their practices are much different than those of more true cultures shouldn’t lead to them being seen raspingly or as less intelligent. (Olekina 2006) With this perspective anthropologists can more objectively drag a cultural system and all of the customs, beliefs, and activities, that fit into it. This approach leads to a greater awareness, tolerance, and acceptance of the culture the anthropologist is studying. (Lenkeit 2012:17) Anthropologists collect most of their data through ethnology and ethnography.They must control the obstacles in order to get to the goals that Ethnography and Ethnology try to reach. When doing fieldwork, moral and ethical issues can plague anthropologist’s research, and they learn to aline to these issues in order to gather indispensable data, observation, interviews, comparisons, and quantification all have their own ways of deriving information. Each method has its faults, and can be misleading, but all a nthropological methods attempt to unravel all of the bits and pieces that make a culture what it is.\r\n'