How Do Anthropologists Write Ethnography?
Demonstrate knowledge of ethnographic writing principles and forms.
After gathering data through fieldwork, anthropologists must decide how to tell the stories of the people they study. Although ethnographic films are a vibrant part of our field, most anthropologists make their contributions through ethnographic writing—either articles or books. The art of ethnographic writing has been a particularly hot topic within anthropology for the past twenty-five years, and both style and content have changed dramatically since Malinowski and Evans-Pritchard published their books in the early twentieth century.
Ethnography has changed as anthropology has changed. More women and people of color are writing, bringing their unique perspectives into the anthropological discourse. More people from non-Western countries are writing, challenging the position of Western writers as unquestioned authorities on other cultures. And with better communication systems, people are reading what we write about them, even when we write it halfway around the world. This has had a profound effect on the conversations between author and subject and on the ethnographer’s final product.
It is unavoidable that what we write will in some way provide only a limited view of the lives of those we study. The process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing our data presumes not only that we present facts but also that we choose which facts to present, which people to highlight, and which stories to tell. As authors, we have the power to interpret the people and their experiences to our audience. This is an awesome and sometimes overwhelming responsibility, which often leaves the ethnographer at a loss for how to proceed. In researching my book God in Chinatown, for instance, I conducted more than one hundred interviews, each lasting one hour or more. The process of selecting certain stories and specific quotations was arduous.
POLYVOCALITY
Changes in ethnographic fieldwork and writing over recent decades have sought to make the process more participatory and transparent. Today, most ethnographic projects involve people from the community in the research process and include their voices more directly in the written product.
Polyvocality—the use of many voices in ethnographic writing, including quotations—allows the reader to hear directly from the people in the study and, by bringing their stories to life, makes them more vibrant and available to the reader. Anthropologists also increase polyvocality in their research by inviting key informants to help design the research, including interview and survey questions. Others may be invited to read sections of the manuscript as it is being drafted. In contemporary ethnographic writing, the author’s voice also comes out more clearly. Ethnographies have moved from the style of Evans-Pritchard (1940) toward that of Geertz (1973a)—from being a scientific report toward being thick description and an interpretation of what is observed.
REFLEXIVITY
In recent years, the practice of reflexivity—self-reflection on the experience of doing fieldwork—has become more prevalent in written ethnographies. Contemporary writers make an effort to reveal their own position in relation to their study so that readers can assess what biases, strengths, or handicaps the author may have. The ethnographer’s age, gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, and religious background may have a direct impact on the ease with which they establish rapport or gain access to the research community and on the successful analysis of their findings. A careful ethnographer must address these issues in the research design and implementation and may choose to reflect on them in the written report.
ETHNOGRAPHIC AUTHORITY
Ultimately, the ethnographer must wrestle with the question of ethnographic authority: What right do they have to present certain material, make certain claims, and draw certain conclusions? That authority is not automatically given, so writers make efforts, often early on in the ethnography, to establish their credentials and identify the grounds on which readers should trust them and the decisions they made during fieldwork and writing. These attempts to establish ethnographic authority include discussions of the length of time engaged in the study, language skills, special training and preparation, research design and implementation, and the quality of the relationships with subjects in the study. The quality and persuasiveness of the writing can also be significant in establishing the ethnographer’s credibility. The inclusion of direct quotes can confirm the author’s conclusions, provide more direct access to the fieldworker’s data, and enable the reader to better assess the author’s conclusions.
Anthropologists today write for a wide variety of audiences, including students, colleagues, and other specialists in the field. We also write for the people we study. In today’s world of global communication, the people we are writing about often read our work, even across barriers of language and geography. People expect to see their lives accurately portrayed and their community’s concerns appropriately expressed. Balancing the expectations and needs of these at times contradictory audiences makes the ethnographer’s task quite complicated.