Posted: June 1st, 2015
Ethnographic Research ; (Auburn) suburb in New South Wales (Australia)
Word length: 2,000 – 2,500 words (not including the bibliography)
You are required to conduct a series of non-intrusive ethnographic observations in
An ‘ethnic’ community or suburb in the Sydney region, and then produce an analysis of these observations. You will be responsible for finding a community and/or location for research. For example, Lakemba is a location that has received a great deal of media attention and occupies an interesting place in Sydney’s social geography and imagination. Please remember that ‘ethnic’ is not synonymous with ‘non-white’. This research project will culminate in a paper (between 2,000 and 2,500 words) that integrates your observations and experiences, an analysis of media and public discourse, demographic and historical details, and supporting literature and theory. The ultimate theme of your paper will depend on your community, the direction of your ethnographic gaze, and the types of participation and observations conducted. You might focus on themes such as food, the use of space, media discourse, ethnic identity, multicultural relations, immigrant issues, and community services. You will be required to draw on the fundamentals of conducting ethnographic research such as writing field notes, creating maps, participating in activities, gathering demographic and historical data. You are by no means expected to use all of these research methods. You are not expected to organise formal interviews with community members. In Week 13 we will share the results of this research in an informal session: this presentation is not graded.You are not expected to make entirely valid anthropological conclusions based on the limited time and research capacity. I am most interested in your research process, and tentative findings. It’s up to you to make something of what you observe and experience. I am looking for you to:
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Some notes on observing:
Observing is hard but It is one of the key components of the ethnographic method.
Watch what people are doing. Pay attention to details. Here are a few questions that might help you figure out what to look for:
-General observations: What time did you arrive at the location? Who was there?
How old are they? What are the genders? What are people wearing and what are they doing? How are people communicating with each other? How are they communicating with you? How is the space used? How do people move through the location? How are people in this community similar to each other? How are they different? Why?
-Patterns of behavior: What are the patterns of behavior? What interactions did you observe? What did the people do? Why did they do it? What were the ‘rules’ that people followed? Were these rules ever broken? What are the consequences? For breaking the rules? Did you participate in any of those patterns? What were the dynamics in the relationships between those present (e.g. customers, workers, management). Be sure to observe the affective dimensions to these dynamics: emotions have a place in anthropology.
-Surrounding environment: Observe the broader setting. How do people interact with things like the weather, with animals, with trees? These are serious questions. Consider the interrelationships between humans and non-human elements in the scene you are observing.
-You might focus your analysis on a specific practice: What might the practice under observation mean? Why is it done? What is its purpose? What is its relationship to other cultural practices? What does it tell us about the culture (for example, what they believe is important)? In other words, what is the cultural significance of what you observed?
-Your position in the observation: Where were you? What were you doing? Did this influence what you observed? How did people communicate with you? What did it feel like to do this project? Did your ethnicity have any significance in shaping the interactions you were having?
Important information:
You do not need to announce your activities, but if you are asked to explain what you are doing be honest about the purpose of your visit to this location.
Ethnographic Research
Over the semester, students will conduct a series of non-intrusive ethnographic observations in an ‘ethnic’ community or suburb in the Sydney region, and then produce an analysis of these observations. You will be responsible for finding a community and/or location for research. For example, Lakemba is a community that has received a great deal of media attention and occupies an interesting place in Sydney’s social geography and imagination. This research project will culminate in a paper (between 2,000 and 2,500 words) that integrates your observations and experiences, an analysis of media and public discourse, demographic and historical details, and supporting literature and theory. The ultimate theme of your paper will depend on your community, the direction of your ethnographic gaze, and the types of participation and observations conducted. You might focus on themes such as food, the use of space, media discourse, ethnic identity, community relations, immigrant issues, and community services.
We will discuss the project throughout the semester. You will be required to draw on many of the fundamentals of conducting ethnographic research (writing field notes, creating maps, participating in activities, gathering demographic and historical data), short of organizing formal interviews with community members
This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:
Evaluate and question the claims about culture, race, and ethnicity made in the media, by governments, and other public sources. Apply anthropological perspectives and knowledge to issues concerning immigration/migration, asylum seeking and related transnational phenomenon and concerns.
Demonstrate the ability to design, and conduct a social research project on an ‘ethnic’ community in Sydney, and communicate research findings in oral and written forms.
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