Non-Fiction Books:

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes

Sorry, this product is not currently available to order

Here are some other products you might consider...

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes

Click to share your rating 0 ratings (0.0/5.0 average) Thanks for your vote!
  • Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes on Paperback by Robert M Emerson
  • Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes on Paperback by Robert M Emerson
Unavailable
Sorry, this product is not currently available to order

Description

In this companion volume to John van Maanen's "Tales of the Field", three scholars reveal how the ethnographer turns direct experience and observation into written fieldnotes upon which an ethnography is based. Drawing on years of teaching and field research experience, the authors develop a series of guidelines, suggestions and practical advice about how to write useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, both cultural and institutional. Using actual, unfinished "working" notes as examples, they illustrate options for composing, reviewing and working fieldnotes into finished texts. They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies, including evocation of sensory detail, synthesis of complete scenes, the value of partial versus omniscient perspectives and of first-person versus third-person accounts. Of particular interest is the authors' discussion of notetaking as a mindset. They show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but more crucially from learning to envision scenes as written. A good ethnographer, they argue, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colours and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet. The authors also emphasize the ethnographer's core interest in presenting the perceptions and meanings which the people studied attach to their own actions. They demonstrate the subtle ways that writers can make the voices of people heard in the texts they produce. Finally, they analyze the "processing" of fieldnotes - the practice of coding notes to identify themes and methods for selecting and weaving together fieldnote excerpts to write a polished ethnography. This book, however, is more than a "how-to" manual. The authors examine writing fieldnotes as an interactive and interpretive process in which the researcher's own commitments and relationships with those in the field inevitably shape the character and content of those fieldnotes. They explore the conscious and unconscious writing choices that produce fieldnote accounts. And they show how the character and content of these fieldnotes inevitably influence the arguments and analyses the ethnographer can make in the final ethnographic tale. This book shows that note-taking is a craft that can be taught. Along with "Tales of the Field" and George Marcus and Michael Fisher's "Anthropology as Cultural Criticism", "Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes" should provide an essential tool for students and social scientists alike.

Table of Contents

Preface 1: Fieldnotes in Ethnographic Research 2: In the Field: Participating, Observing, and Jotting Notes 3: Writing Up Fieldnotes I: From Field to Desk 4: Writing Up Fieldnotes II: Creating Scenes on the Page 5: Pursuing: Members' Meanings 6: Processing Fieldnotes: Coding and Memoing 7: Writing an Ethnography 8: Conclusion Notes References Index
Release date NZ
September 14th, 1995
Audiences
  • Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
  • Professional & Vocational
  • Undergraduate
Country of Publication
United States
Edition
2nd
Imprint
University of Chicago Press
Pages
272
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
Dimensions
142x216x17
ISBN-13
9780226206813
Product ID
1832310

Customer reviews

Nobody has reviewed this product yet. You could be the first!

Write a Review

Marketplace listings

There are no Marketplace listings available for this product currently.
Already own it? Create a free listing and pay just 9% commission when it sells!

Sell Yours Here

Help & options

Filed under...