Overhead 2
Good morning
Announcements:
WebCT, office hours, title of classes, e-mails
Any questions?
Last time
 What did we do last time?
 Went through “methods and research” (Miller ch.2)
 We left Asante market women discussion to today.
Asante
 Please think about the following questions while you are watching the film.
You do not need to write the answers. Just think about what answer you
would give if you were asked to.
Asante
 *Remember that this can be a preparation for your first exam.
Asante
 How would you summarize this film, in one or two paragraphs, if you were
asked to prepare a Documentary Film Catalog for educational purposes?
 (Your paragraph(s) should introduce the film). Which of the five concepts you
learned in this class are closely relevant to this film?
Asante
 1. Why do you think men support polygamy?
 How do you interpret women’s reaction within the framework of that culture?
Think in terms of agency and structure.
Asante
 What would you say about this film if you take a cultural relativist approach?
 What would be the point of your ambiquity in your relativistic approach?
16 September
 Methods and research
 Corresponding chapter in Miller
 Chapter 2/ “Methods in Cultural anthropology”
Knowledge production
 What is important or relevant?
 understanding of a phenomenon in the abstract and definition of its
characteristics
 we operate with:
 questions, assumptions, methods and evidence
Our conceptual “luggage”
 To reach an understanding of a phenomenon in the abstract and definition of
its characteristics
 we have to have theory
Theory
 A theory
 is a general statement about the relationship between phenomena, the
systematic relationship between the observed entities.
Concepts
 Concepts are the building blocks of theory.
 A concept is an idea expressed as a symbol or in words.
 E.g.: Symbolic form: Π
Formula: s=d/t
Words: height
Concept of “height”
 Height, hauteur, höhe, altura: same idea
 What does it mean?
 It represent an abstract idea about physical relations.
Height
 Height is a characteristic of a physical object, the distance from top to bottom.
 Concept: symbol (word or term)+ definition
 I learned the word “height” and its definition as learned to speak and was
socialized to the culture.
Paradigm
 A paradigm
 is a fundamental model or scheme that organizes our view of something.
 Paradigms are, so to speak, larger theories which include smaller ones
 example: Newtonian physics and Eisteinian physics.
We are not empty vessels
 Theoretical perspectives influence the research and analysis.
Research (Deductive)
 Begins with an abstract thinking.
 Connect the ideas in theory to concrete evidence.
 Then test ideas against the evidence.
 You have ideas about how the world operates and you want to test these
ideas against “data”. E.g.Lynching.
Research (Deductive)
 Deductive research (e.g. Cultural materialism)
 Research question/hypothesis
 Exploration of similarities and differences
 Observational and interview data
Deductive research
 What people do?
 How do people explain what they do and why?
Deductive research
 Analysis:
 Interpretation of actions, norms and behaviour
 cross cultural comparison.
+
Research (inductive)
 Begins with specific observations of the world (empirical evidence).
 On the basis of evidence, generalizes and builds toward increasingly abstract
ideas.
 Vague concepts are refined, and generalizations are developed as you
observe. E.g. anti-nuclear groups in San Francisco
Research (inductive)
Inductive research
(e.g. Symbolic anthropology)
 Research question/hypothesis is open ended.

How people/members of a culture use its symbols (winks, foods, words,
games) as a language through which to read and interpret, to express and
share meaning.
Inductive reserach
 Analysis:
 Uncovering underlying conceptual structures which give meaning to the
symbolic usage within a culture.
 Cross-cultural comparison is less significant.
The KEY Questions
 How do cultural anthropologists conduct research on culture?
 What does fieldwork involve?
 What are some special issues in cultural anthropology research?
History of Fieldwork
Working in the Field
– A lengthy and difficult process
• site selection
• gaining rapport
– with key people who may serve as gatekeepers
• exchanges and gift giving
– gifts should be culturally and ethically appropriate
• factors influencing fieldwork
– issues of race, class, gender and age
• culture shock
Participant Observation
 Living and working with the people you study
– eating the same food
– wearing similar clothes
 Speaking their language and “following their values”
Participant Observation Approaches
 Etic (outsider)
– data gathering by outsiders that yield answers to particular questions posed
by outsider
– supported by cultural materialists
 Emic (insider)
– descriptive reports about what insiders say and understand about their
culture
– “peoples’ talk”
– supported by ideationists
Etic-Emic
 Etic-emic-etic
 (Outsider- Insider-Outsider)
Fieldwork Techniques
Writing about Culture
 Ethnography - descriptive writing about a culture
– “realist”
• uses a third-person voice
• uses a more scientific approach
– “reflexive”
• explores the research experience itself
• highly personalized
• poetic?
New Directions in Fieldwork
 As more indigenous groups are able to read English, they are able to critique
Western ethnographies
 Movement away from treating people as “subjects” and involving them more
actively in data collection