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II. Read and translate the text




ETHNOGRAPHY

Ethnography (ethnos – 'people' and graphein – 'writing') is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. Ethnography presents the results of a holistic research method founded on the idea that a system's properties cannot necessarily be accurately understood independently of each other. The genre has both formal and historical connections to travel writing and colonial office reports. Several academic traditions, in particular the constructivist and relativist paradigms, employ ethnographic research as a crucial research method. Many cultural anthropologists consider ethnography the essence of the discipline.

Cultural anthropology and social anthropology were developed around ethnographic research and their canonical texts are mostly ethnographies: e.g. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) by Bronisław Malinowski, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) by Margaret Mead, The Nuer (1940) by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, or Naven (1958) by Gregory Bateson. Cultural and social anthropologists today place such a high value on actually doing ethnographic research that ethnology—the comparative synthesis of ethnographic information—is rarely the foundation for a career. Within cultural anthropology, there are several sub-genres of ethnography. Beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bi-confessional" ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Later "reflexive" ethnographies refined the technique to translate cultural differences by representing their effects on the ethnographer. In the 1980s, the rhetoric of ethnography was subjected to intense scrutiny within the discipline, under the general influence of literary theory and post-colonial/post-structuralist thought. "Experimental" ethnographies reveal the ferment of the discipline.

Cultural anthropologists, such as Clifford Geertz and Xavier Andrade, study and interpret cultural diversity through ethnography based on field work. It provides an account of a particular culture, society, or community. The fieldwork usually involves spending a year or more in another society, living with the local people and learning about their ways of life. Ethnographers are participant observers. They take part in events they study because it helps with understanding local behavior and thought.

Psychology, economics, sociology and cultural studies also produce ethnography. Urban sociology and the Chicago School in particular are associated with ethnographic research, although some of the most well-known examples were influenced by an anthropologist, Lloyd Warner, who happened to be in the sociology department at Chicago Symbolic interactionism developed from the same tradition and yielded several excellent sociological ethnographies, including Shared Fantasy by Gary Alan Fine, which documents the early history of fantasy role-playing games. But even though many sub-fields and theoretical perspectives within sociology use ethnographic methods, ethnography is not the sine qua non of the discipline, as it is in cultural anthropology.

Education, Ethnomusicology, Performance Studies, Folklore, and Linguistics are others fields which have made extensive use of ethnography. The American anthropologist George Spindler was a pioneer in applying ethnographic methodology to the classroom.

Ethnographic methods have been used to study business settings. Groups of workers, managers and so on are different social categories participating in common social systems. Each group shows different characteristic attitudes, behavior patterns and values.

Techniques

¨ Direct, first-hand observation of daily behavior.

¨ Conversation with different levels of formality.

¨ The genealogical method.

¨ Discovery of local beliefs and perceptions.

¨ Problem-oriented research.

¨ Longitudinal research.

¨ Team research.

¨ Case studies.

Not all of these techniques are used by ethnographers, but interviews and participant observation are the most widely used.

Gary Alan Fine argues that the nature of ethnographic inquiry demands that researchers deviate from formal and idealistic rules or ethics that have come to be widely accepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Many of these ethical assumptions are rooted in positivist and post-positivist epistemologies that have adapted over time, but nonetheless are apparent and must be accounted for in all research paradigms. These ethical dilemmas are evident throughout the entire process of conducting ethnographies, including the design, implementation, and reporting of an ethnographic study. Essentially, Fine maintains that researchers are typically not as ethical as they claim or assume to be — and that "each job includes ways of doing things that would be inappropriate for others to know".

ETHNOHISTORY

Ethnohistory is the study of ethnographic cultures and indigenous customs by examining historical records. It is also the study of the history of various ethnic groups that may or may not exist today.

Ethnohistory uses both historical and ethnographic data as its foundation. Its historical methods and materials go beyond the standard use of books and manuscripts. Practitioners recognize the utility of maps, music, paintings, photography, folklore, oral tradition, ecology, site exploration, archaeological materials, museum collections, enduring customs, language, and place names.

Ethnohistorians have learned to use their special knowledge of the groups they study, linguistic insights, and the understanding of cultural phenomena in ways that make for a more in-depth analysis than the average historian is capable of doing based solely on written documents produced by and for one group. They try to understand culture on its own terms and according to its own cultural code. Ethnohistory differs from other historically-related methodologies in that it embraces emic perspectives as tools of analysis. The field and it techniques are well suited for writing histories of Indian peoples because of its holistic and inclusive framework. It is especially important because of its ability to bridge differing frameworks and access a more informed context for interpretations of the past.

The definition of the field has become more refined over the years. Early on, ethnohistory differed from history proper in that it added a new dimension, specifically "the critical use of ethnological concepts and materials in the examination and use of historical source material," as described by William N. Fenton. Later, Axtell described ethnohistory as "the use of historical and ethnological methods to gain knowledge of the nature and causes of change in a culture defined by ethnological concepts and categories". Others have focused this basic concept on previously ignored historical actors. Schieffelin asserted, for example, that ethnohistory must fundamentally take into account the people's own sense of how events are constituted, and their ways of culturally constructing the past. Finally, Simmons formulated his understanding of ethnohistory as "a form of cultural biography that draws upon as many kinds of testimony as possible over as long a time period as the sources allow." He described ethnohistory as an endeavor based on a holistic, diachronic approach that is most rewarding when it can be "joined to the memories and voices of living people."

III. Give synonyms to the underlined words:

¨ descriptions of phenomena;

¨ a holistic research method;

¨ formal connections;

¨ crucial research method;

¨ essence of the discipline;

¨ comparative synthesis;

¨ to reveal the ferment;

¨ to yield sociological ethnographies;

¨ extensive use;

¨ nature of inquiry;

¨ longitudinal research;

¨ indigenous customs

 

IV. Study the given below lexical units (provide the Ukrainian variant):

¨ to travel writing and colonial office reports;

¨ several sub-genres of ethnography;

¨ living with the local people;

¨ the technique to translate cultural differences;

¨ to understand culture on its own terms;

¨ methods to gain knowledge of the nature and causes of change in a culture;

¨ to take into account the people's own sense of how events are constituted;

¨ to access a more informed context for interpretations of the past;

¨ ways of doing things that would be inappropriate for others to know;

¨ to be widely accepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches to research

V. Find English equivalents for the following:

§ опис людського соціального феномену;

§ бути точно зрозумілим незалежно один від одного;

§ бути створеним навколо етнографічних досліджень;

§ застосовувати етнографічне дослідження як вирішальний метод;

§ природа дослідження вимагає відхилення від формальних правил;

§ набагато глибший аналіз, ніж звичайний історик може зробити;

§ вивчення та використання матеріалів історичних джерел;

§ здобути знання про природу та причини змін у культурі

 


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