Ethnography Soc of Culture Assignment Think critically about what the space, symbols, structures and sociality of our university can tell us about how culture is at work on campus.
What stands out to you and why? What seems important or interesting to highlight? What’s the cultural and intellectual significance? Analyze your data, looking for themes or patterns and decide what to focus on. Then, write a 5-page, double-spaced ethnographic essay using thick description, and the vocabulary, theories and concepts from cultural sociology that we’ve explored thus far.
UTM Ethnography Assignment (25%):
Participant observation is the primary data collection method of ethnographic research.
Participant observation is a process that requires immersing oneself in another community for some time, participating in their society, observing their culture, analyzing your observations and constructions, and then drawing conclusions from your data to produce an ethnographic account. As social scientists, we communicate this ethnographic account by using the vocabulary, theories and concepts of our discipline to demonstrate the intellectual significance of our ethnographic data. As Geertz and many others have argued, an effective ethnography is written using “thick description.” Thin description would render a superficial account, whereas thick description offers significant details and context for your interpretations, and makes explicit the patterns of social relations that you observed.
For this ethnography of UTM, you are a part of the community that you are studying so you can count your own experiences as secondary data. In this way, your essay can be considered autoethnographic in nature. Where necessary, you should reference your personal experience as an “insider” (UTM student) to provide context for your observations and explications. Also, please remember that you cannot do human subjects research, which means you cannot interview, personally identify or quote people for your essay. While you can reference your past interactions with friends and peers, you should not name people in your account. Please also think carefully about the ethics of knowledge production especially when making distinctions, analyses and conclusions related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class and ability.
Directions:
Take the next week to purposefully observe your surroundings while navigating the space at UTM, and make notes of your observations. Think critically about what the space, symbols, structures and sociality of our university can tell us about how culture is at work on campus.
What stands out to you and why? What seems important or interesting to highlight? What’s the cultural and intellectual significance? Analyze your data, looking for themes or patterns and decide what to focus on. Then, write a 5-page, double-spaced ethnographic essay using thick description, and the vocabulary, theories and concepts from cultural sociology that we’ve explored thus far. Where necessary, you should also provide background information about UTM that will help the reader understand the context of and for your observations. In essence, the purpose of this assignment is to practice doing ethnography—applying the methods of ethnographic research, analysis and writing.
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
