ethnographers
Fieldwork-based culture scholars
Ethnographers are researchers who study cultures and communities through direct, prolonged observation and participation.
The method involves living among the people being studied, learning their language, and documenting daily life from the inside.
Ethnographers produce ethnographies—detailed accounts of how particular groups live, work, and make meaning.
The ethnographers spent two years with the fishing village before publishing their findings.
Those who study systematically
- scholarsExperts in a field
- publicationsWorks issued to readers
- journalsPeriodicals or personal logs
- monographsScholarly single-topic publications
dissertations · anonymity · pseudonyms · Malinowski · citations · positionality
On-site written observations
- interviewsFormal evaluative conversations
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
- codingWriting software instructions
- transcriptionWritten version of speech
reflexivity · triangulation · rapport-building · gatekeepers
Traditional practices or import taxes
- traditionsLong-established customs passed down
- beliefsAccepted truths, personal
- valuesPrinciples held worthwhile
- normsExpected behavioral standards
heritage · identity · folklore · symbolism · ceremonies · rites-of-passage · foodways · dress
Involving multiple societies
Organized human collectives
- subculturesGroups with shared alternative identities
- networksInterconnected groups or channels
- insidersThose with special access
- outsidersThose not belonging
boundaries · membership · belonging · trust-building · reciprocity · collaboration · diaspora
researchers
Those who study systematically
- scholarsExperts in a field
- publicationsWorks issued to readers
- journalsPeriodicals or personal logs
monographs · dissertations · anonymity · pseudonyms · Malinowski · citations · positionality
fieldnotes
On-site written observations
- interviewsFormal evaluative conversations
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
- codingWriting software instructions
transcription · reflexivity · triangulation · rapport-building · gatekeepers
customs
Traditional practices or import taxes
- traditionsLong-established customs passed down
- beliefsAccepted truths, personal
- valuesPrinciples held worthwhile
norms · heritage · identity · folklore · symbolism · ceremonies · rites-of-passage · foodways · dress · music
cross-cultural
Involving multiple societies
social-groups
Organized human collectives
- subculturesGroups with shared alternative identities
- networksInterconnected groups or channels
- insidersThose with special access
outsiders · boundaries · membership · belonging · trust-building · reciprocity · collaboration · diaspora
- AnthropologistsMargaret Mead, anthropologists, ethnologists, paleoanthropologists, fieldwork
- academicsprofessor, course, university professors, math, professors
- colonial figurescolonial figures, colonial officials, colonial administrators, colonial leaders, colonial governors
- historianshistorian, historians, chronicler, chroniclers, annalist
- preserverslife preserver, life jacket, life vest, buoy, life ring
ethnographersexperimentalists
Those conducting trials
statisticians · clinical researchers · behaviorists · lab technicians · data scientists
ethnographersarchivists
Keepers of historical documents
historians · philologists · bibliographers · literary critics · theorists