Ethnographic Methods - Reading response (Week 8)

In this reading, Ethnographic Methods by Anderson, he has presented a very detailed brief on what is ethnography, what are the different ethnographic methods, what are the problems faced in doing an ethnographic research. 

Ethnography is essentially writing of culture. It is the process where members of one culture observe and participate in the culture of another. The four necessary topics that Anderson talks about in this are Participant observation, Membership, Reflexivity and answering questions of what and how the process takes place.

In Member understanding which is a theoretical concept according to Anderson he divides it into two things. The modern and structuralist that are the expression of universals, Postmodern and Post structuralist which gives importance to the social practices that gives meanings to the foundations. Essentially the structuralist thought is to discover underlying foundations and the post structuralist thought is exploring the member knowledge of the foundation. 

The member knowledge is understanding the intersection of how, which signifies the practices and Why which signifies the demand justification. The participant observation is the engine for ethnographic research as pointed out by Anderson. He presents examples from four people Tutt, Mayer Antonio, Moser and David Ryfe. The five ethnographic methods that he discusses are the ethnographic problems, the membership, gaining access, field work and making sense of it all. 

As far as I understood,  Ethnography doesn't have any shortcuts, its a long unwinding process, in which there is a key framework and a specific structure in which the research must be carried out.

(Anderson, James (2012) Media Research Methods. London: Sage, pp351-373)