Film Discussion Paper 1: Ethnology And Cultural Anthropology

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Film Discussion Paper 1: Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology Ethnography is one of the techniques used by anthropologist to gather, interpret and analyze information on a particular society or culture (Kottak, 2011). Ethnography requires that the researcher actually conduct in-depth field research, which means living, working and pretty much experiencing life the way their subjects are, this is termed as participant observation. In the first video the researcher wanted to study artisan cheesemakers and how they learn to make cheese (Mithanthro, 2008). She actually lived the life of a cheesemaker, learning how to make the cheese and doing actual physical work. (Mithanthro, 2008). In the last half a decade there has been a turnaround in the way ethnographic fieldwork is conducted. One of those changes has been the practice has been moving towards a more problem-specific type of ethnography (Kottak, 2011). Globalization has also allowed ethnographers to collect data not just from the words of the locals but from an archive of databases including those of the regional and national governments (Kottak, 2011). This has allowed the researchers to obtain knowledge n factors that the local people didn’t even know have been affecting their lives (Kottak, 2011). …show more content…

This is a major issue an ethnographer must overcome because they must be able to recognize what seems “alien” and disgusting to them is perfectly normal to those living within the culture. The battle against Enthnocentricism and bias can addressed by conducting interviews with pre-planned specfic questions. This is one of the technique used by Orwiredu in the “Homeless in Chicago” film (Owiredu, 2014). Also he allwoed himeself to integrate with the homless population by dressing up attire similar to their own and using a familiar dialect when speaking to them (Owiredu,