Descriptive Ethnography - Essay Example

Descriptive Ethnography Introduction Ethnography entails the study of a particular social life and culture and is entirely based on fieldwork. The ethnographer lives among the informants and cultivates very close relationship with the society or culture under study as well as maintaining the degree of objective detachment. The researcher must be keen enough to understand a particular group’s beliefs, customs and lifestyles. Ethnographers must select a project, participate in observation, ask ethnographic questions, make an ethnographic record, represent, analyze the data and finally write ethnography. Anthropologist is people who have a very unique attitude towards different cultures and appreciates the diversity among different people’s beliefs, customs and culture. This form of writing includes the observation and description of different cultures’ unusual aspects (Fetterman, 2010). The Hispanics as demonstrated by the young Hispanic female emphasize on respect on all their forms of communication and rarely initiate conversations since they prefer to be approached. Mostly, the Hispanics interpret eye contact as a more confrontational body language and further considers that being ignored is as a sign of disrespect and offensive. The Hispanics do avoid too much gesturing and insist on maintaining an accepting attitude. The Hispanics are never contented with some questions such as questions concerning immigration status and religion and are seen to be very expressive in communication. Majority of Hispanics are Roman Catholic which acts as the main source for both information and are also known to be people who are very proud of their heritage hence do not forget their origin (Roll & Irwin, 2008). A young Hispanic female around 19-20 talks on her cell phone while walking towards the cafeteria and is wearing a red jacket with SF 49’ers logo in the back. She must be a 49’ers fan or maybe because of the hotness of the 49’ers hence suggesting her love for hot things. The Hispanic girl wears big round gold earrings and has her nails painted red and well kept. She loves herself so much and adores elegance and fashion as the Hispanic culture explains. She looks fashionable and elegance as she puts her black backpack on her left shoulder. The backpack looks empty hence suggesting her love for stylishness. She wears blue jeans that look like the fancy type due to its washed out color and a logo that is not recognizable. Her full tan purse on her right shoulder looks fuller than her backpack may be to show her adoption to the current trends and fashion of carrying purse. The purse may be carrying her make ups that ensure she looks beautiful all the time and anywhere. She walks so fast but she is not in a hurry maybe because of her fear for eyes and the fact that Hispanic culture does not recognize much the female gender. She must be hurrying to get away from the possible onlookers or admirers who may get a glimpse of her. She wears a smile on her face with her head rocking front and back perhaps to gain confidence. She does not seem to be having enough confidence especially when she is amidst many people. She does not seem to care about what happens around her as she hurriedly disappears into the cafeteria without looking sideways (Roll & Irwin, 2008). The patterns of communication amongst the African Americans are mostly familiar with Anglo American patterns. The African Americans are largely affected by the past incidents of racism and sense of subjection in their interactions thus making them show respect at all times while communicating. This group of people believe in a prolonged eye contact which is always seen as confrontational or aggressive and would mostly seek assistance from the religious leaders if need arose (Pinn, Finley & Alexander, 2009). The African Americans do not address people by their first names which are construed as lack of respect but may use the first names if they are urged to do so. This group of people do not love issues or questions regarding their finances and past relationships whether married or not and believe in their elders as decision makers. Because of respect, I observed that even young African Americans would not feel comfortable playing or joking around their elders or seniors. The seniors too may not give in to some of the jokes cracked by the juniors perhaps as a sign of superiority and maturity (Boyd, 2008). The groups of African Americans are really enjoying their conversation throughout the process. The conversation seems very much informal since it is characterized with laughters and a bit of playing with the cell phones. The three African American males are playing with their phones which they seem not to have much work for apart from playing around with. The African Americans are very friendly to each other and do not cares about what others think or say about them. The African Americans are either having a break or some kind of rest but are not even accompanied by any other race thus suggesting their oneness and probably distrust of other races that was largely contributed by the injustices brought about by racism. The other African American lad who is about 20 has a black skullcap on his head with a black jeans low to his hip making it easier to see his white boxers. The guy is not even caring about his jeans’ position and just continues making stories and laughing. His style of dressing is similar to some of the African American hip hop artists such as Lyle Wayne. He seems to have created some fashion in his dressing by wearing black jeans and the white boxers. The young man seems to be copying a particular culture especially the Anglo American. He has a bag which is lying on the ground but he does not even pay attention to it probably because of his concentration on their funny stories accompanied with the games he plays on his phone. His lack of concentration on the bag is just amazing and leaves a question on what he could be carrying and his seriousness and alertness when it comes to taking of property. The other one is little older and seems to be in his late 20’s talking on a cell phone, and talking to the other two kids. He is not serious with his phone conversation because of the concentration on talking to the two kids. He is enjoying his time with the kids and does not even regard being with his peers who could be of other races. He is wearing a SF Giants hat backward to the side with a bandana under the cap, and has two large diamond earnings. He does not show good example to the two kids in his dressing code, which is similar to African American style just like other two kids. It is difficult to differentiate between the kids and the older guy and is really enjoying the company of the kids. He seems to be coming from a well off family because of his 5-6 gold chains and a three bracelet. He does not look like a student and he has no backpacks although the other two young men seem to know him from the way they are talking and laughing. The big guy wears an expensive black leather jacket with red sleeves and tattoos on his upper torso. He has exposed his tattoos by wearing a white tank top which matches so well with the rest of his clad. His clothes generally look more expensive compared to the two young men whom he is interacting with. The other young man who is about 20 but looks younger than his age is only wearing a gray hoodie with black jeans. He is simple and seems to be taking good care of himself thus making him look even younger than his real age. The young man wears very nice athletic shoes and a backpack that is torn on the bottom. It appears that he does not come from a well off family due to his torn backpack. All these three African American gentlemen enjoy talking to each other and occasionally get loud with laughter. The older guy does not get picked on and it seems that the other two gentlemen fear and respect him perhaps because of the African American culture of obeying their elders or because the guy must be from a rich background (Boyd, 2008). The white people as seen with the Caucasian girl are believed to be having no culture. However, there were a few things that are said to be valued by the white females such as the Caucasian girl I observed such as status, niceness, polite, middle classiness, house, education, comfort work and professionalism. The Caucasian girls also prefer having a good job and prettiness. The way in which the Caucasian girls communicate is both verbal and non verbal. They are in most cases very passive, gossip, emotional, cry and normally cry if offended as well as using body language, glance and nodding (Sheumaker & Wajda, 2008). The Caucasian girl who is in her 20’s walks out of the Rhoda Hall North with some papers in her hand and crying. She is trying to keep her composure but the sadness seems to overwhelm her. She cannot withstand the cry indicating her how emotional she could be. The Caucasian girl walks so fast without even concentrating on where she is heading to probably because of the annoyance. She cannot even stop to scroll or make a phone call since she concentrates at the phone amid her fast walk. She moves her one finger over the screen. This must be her way of reacting to anger. The lady is decently dressed as she wears a long skirt to her knees, button up shirt and red jacket that makes her look smart and formal. Her dressing code is matches so well with her long blonde hair that is pulled up back to her head. The Caucasian girl seems to love herself and cares deeply about her style of dressing. She seems to love and value modesty hence making her to wear long skirts and button up shirt. She also looks very religious in a manner of dressing. The Caucasian girl has little make up, rosy cheeks and pink lips suggesting her simplicity. She wears flat shoes that are dark color and wears no visible jewelry on her body. The Caucasian girl seems not worried or caring about what every lady thinks about. Most ladies adore make ups to look beautiful but the Caucasian lady seems unconcerned about this. References Boyd, T. (2008). African Americans and Popular Culture. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Fetterman, D.M. (2010). Ethnography: Step-By-Step. Los Angeles: SAGE. Pinn, A. B., Finley, S. C., & Alexander, T. (2009). African American Religious Cultures. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Roll, S., & Irwin, M. (2008). The Invisible Border: Latinos In America. Boston: Intercultural Press. Sheumaker, H., & Wajda, S. T.(2008). Material Culture in America: Understanding Everyday Life. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Read More