Greetings from sunny Mexico!
Apparently my addition to the blog last week really should have waited until this week—or perhaps it was a good segue.
In the first section of the Participant/Observer reading by Emerson, the author talks about the ethnographer being a “witness” to the events as opposed to an interviewer or a listener, as has been the tradition in ethnography. He notes that the idea of staying “sufficiently detached” has received little attention. This was what I mentioned in the blog last week. The idea of staying detached instead of being a member (or becoming a member) of the subject group gives a more objective tone to the research.
The chapter also gave a warning about increasing levels of inclusion when in the field. There is obviously a fine line between finding a place of comfort where subjects are willing to open up to you, and crossing over to an inappropriate level of familiarity. Personally, I think having sex with the subjects (as mentioned in the reading as almost a common occurrence in the field) definitely crosses that line. I was surprised by this section of the reading—is there not a code of ethics for ethnographers? If not, maybe there should be.
Well, I must sign off now get back to the beach. Enjoy class this week for me and I’ll see you next week. Anne
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