Evan Perreault
Article Annotation 4
1. Emerson, Robert M. "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes." University of Chicago Press (1995):
1-8. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.pacificdiscovery.org/credit/SEAreadings/Robert%20et.al.%20%20Writing%20Ethnographic%20Fieldnotes.pdf>.
2. Robert Emerson has a powerful background in his field and has demonstrated his versatility
and knowledge through various published works. He began his studies at Harvard College,
where he earned his Bachelor of Arts of History. Shortly thereafter, he went on to earn his
Masters’ and Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis University. During his doctorate studies and
during his post-doctorate, he worked at several universities and Sociological Programs. Emerson
is currently a Professor within the Department of Sociology at UCLA after receiving tenure from
Associate Professor in 1983. Some of his notable written works include his book Contemporary
Field Research and paper Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries.
3. Emerson’s primary points of this selection include the difference between jotting notes and
full-fledged recordings, and the extremely complex machine that is the comfort level of the
subjects when a field researcher begins to jot notes or record happenings. These two are
important because the latter affects the former in almost every situation and needs to be carefully
analyzed before the former can really occur. Gauging a location for comfort of being observed
and examined is difficult and will likely be done through trial and error and from there, the
relative presence of a field researcher will determine to what extent he/she can jot or take notes.
4. One of the main arguments in this work is to remain open and flexible, and to be ready to
change one’s method of approach based on the social climate that exists in that given
circumstance. Building off that, Emerson really focused on marginality and what type of affect it
can have the researcher and those who are being studied.
5. Writing ethnographical fieldnotes is a highly individualized process and practice, and Emerson
uses some different methods to back his argument in this article. Similar to taking complete field
notes, he stresses using “headnotes” in combination to jotting so that memories and situations
can be mentally recorded for later evaluation. He also mentions how the personal influences of
the field researcher can affect what is perceived as important or worth taking note of. And
finally, he uses the surroundings of an observer’s locale to identify any other environment
influences or aspects that might contribute or take away from an observed situation. And some of
these surroundings might include size of occupied space, number of people, mood, time, etc. All
of these things can have significant effects on the outcome of a situation, with it being
completely unbeknownst to the observer.
6. “This (participating-in-order-to-write) style brings to the fore the interconnections between
writing, participating, and observing as a means of understanding another way of life: this
approach focuses on learning how to look in order to write, while it also recognizes that looking
is itself shaped and constrained by a sense of what and how to write.”
“All in all, it is a defining moment in field relations when an ethnographer takes out a pad and
begins to write down what people are saying and doing in the presence of those very people.”
“But this strategy (put writing completely out of mind and just living) put off rather than avoids
the marginalizing consequences of writing, for lived experience must eventually be turned into
observations and reduced to textual form.”
7. How to field researchers respond to the mental and societal stresses that they encounter after
having become immersed in a community or setting?
Where would a researcher draw the line between scrapping an entire research project for the sake
of friendship/belonging to the community or situation?
How does one judge the initial conditions of a location or project area and when and how to
begin taking notes or even jotting for the sake of gauging the response of the local people?
8. Statistics on field researching methods and commonalities in data acquisition and recording
How to delineate what is important and not important to notate in a jotting situation or just
general field work
Techniques for shorthand and speed note-taking