Cultures
Cultures have been studied and written about for over a century. There are many types of cultures and a technique called ethnography enables us to step into any culture we decide to study. It describes a culture from the natives' point of view. Anthropology is based on the findings of ethnography fieldwork. It has brought back many important findings.According to Malinowski, ethnography is meant "to grasp the natives point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world". We, the fieldworker, have to get inside the culture and interact. Through the fieldwork we learn from people. These people are the subjects of study and can also sometimes become informants. Informants are often friends the fieldworkers make during his study. They give the fieldworker useful knowledge in how the culture works and sometimes what needs to be done to survive. By interacting in their native ways it is easier to get inside their heads. Feeling what they do and being able to be acc
Spradley believes this to be the goal of ethnography. One of the most mysterious elements to a culture is that of tacit knowledge. In many cases events can have several meanings to different cultures. By studying this we can learn more about the culture and what kind of people they are. This is why the ethnographer must become part of the environment. There may be a deep meaning or explanation, but overall the answer is unknown. Symbolic interactionism is very important in interpreting the meanings of human behavior. This makes it hard on the ethnographer because there is no explanation of why. This is one of the most interesting parts of ethnography. We cannot make another culture adapt to us. This is very important to understand, however it can never be properly taken care of. The why is one of the main reasons for the studies. The environment makes up a lot of what people are. While interacting, at the same time, they have to take a step back and watch as the others share their lives.
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