I also had no idea what an ethnography was until I read this article. Now I realize that I have written this type of work before! In my Intro to Social Work class, we had to observe a setting where social workers would work and gather information. Then, we had to synthesize our work and journal about it, connecting our observations to concepts from class. I basically followed the outline of ethnographic writing that Kahn provides: pre-write, introduce, field notes, journal, and draft/revise (Kahn, p. 177). I would like to learn more about ethnography because the one I did was very basic and sort of informal compared to the more extensive ones performed.

I agree that the tone was informal and relatable. The author talked about their own experiences to relate to the audience. The potential audience was definitely students who do not know about ethnography, which includes myself. The purpose was to convey what an ethnography is and interest others in that form of writing. Ethnography helps us observe other humans and relationships, which also helps us gain experience and learn more about the world.

That is very interesting about your sister! It’s so cool that she gets to travel and learn about others. Journalism is a good way to get into ethnography because you get to do fieldwork and then take your experiences and observations and convey them to others.

This article was really interesting because it talked about ethnographies and I had heard of them before, but I had not realized how extensive they were. They seem really complicated, intense, time-consuming, and interesting. I am not sure I agree with Sarah about how ethnographies are good skills to learn because as long as you are not going into anthropology, when are you going to use them? Of course, I understand that one might be required to use ethnographic writing in an English core curriculum class, such as ours, but most majors would not go into this extensively. I also disagree with Sarah that what this piece is trying to do is to make people aware of human contact going on around them or gain a deeper understanding of the human experience. I think that this piece’s purpose is to inform the college students reading it of the background of ethnographic writing and how it is important in college.

I think the historical background of ethnographies was interesting. It talked about missionaries and how they would go to other countries in order to convert them to their religion. They would inadvertently write ethnographies and bring them back to their own countries and churches. It then went on to talk about how that is what ethnographers now are trying to avoid. I think that is smart and it connects to one of my favorite books, Flags of our Fathers. In that book, it talked about how United States based Christian missionaries tried to convert Japanese people to Christianity and it had adverse effects because the Japanese decided to close their borders. Of course, that meddling in the Japanese culture that the United States did finally lead to WWII because the Japanese then resented the United States. Now modern day anthropologists have a give and take where they give something in return to the population they are studying and they have moved away from the “missionary” format of ethnographies which I think is a great idea.

Sarah, when you connected this article to your sister, I agree with you. Journalism is similar to ethnographic writing. Journalism is a cool profession and it must be a great experience to experience all of those events that happen around the world. Despite that, there is a major difference between journalism and ethnographic writing. The difference is that journalists do not give anything in return. It would be cool if they could do that because journalists often go to places that are suffering from intense hardships and giving those people in those regions anything would be a blessing.

I really enjoyed reading “Putting Ethnographic Writing in Context” by Seth Kahn because it was a nice simple read, easy to understand. I liked how Kahn easily explain what an ethnographic is because I honestly have never heard of one, the comparison to anthropologist and how they “generate, collect, analyze, and synthesize materials” as Kahn explained. This explanation was very helpful in visualizing what an ethnographic is. I also like how Kahn made his explanations simple and easy to understand, he’s to the point and I enjoy that because it helps my understanding a lot. I also like how he uses a step-by-step list of how to write an ethnographic.

I do agree with everyone else when I say that I find ethnography’s an interesting topic because I think lots of people including myself find it interesting to learn about places and really get to know there culture and beliefs which is more than just going on vacation somewhere it actually learning about cultures and history of other places. Another thing I found interesting is that we’ve been talking a lot in class and its discussed in this reading is how we speak in different scenarios and how peoples dialects or discourses have a lot to do with where people come from and their cultures. I never knew Comp and rhetoric had so much to do with culture. I’m used to being thought that the rules of writing are set in stone and there’s no other ways of doing things but concepts like these make me thing otherwise.

Overall enjoyed this reading, it was a nice relaxed read and it was interesting. Its cool to think about.

Like Sarah, I had never heard of ethnogrpahic writing. After reading “Putting Ethnographic Writing in Context,” I learned much more about it. I liked how this article was easy to read and understand unlike last weeks reading. I figured out that ethnographic writing is writing that includes what a person has learned by analyzing material. I like how Sarah says that it is like “ultimate writing”. I see it as putting together everything you have learned and putting that in your writing. It is what we all strive for when we are writing. I agree that the tone is very relatable to the audience. As a college student, I can understand difficult topics, but I still like thing to be easier to understand, so I do not have to spend time trying to break down every sentence I am reading. This reading does not leave me questioning what I was reading.I think this reading is meant for college students, and I thought that the author did a good job reaching his audience. I like the comparison between the anthropologists and how the he talked about his own experiences. It really helps me understand better when I have an example. I also like how the author breaks down ethnographic writing into all the parts of writing: pre-writing, introduction, field notes, journals, and the actual drafts of the essay. I think it would be beneficial to our writing because it can help us add details our writing that we would have not thought to add before. We are able to put our point of view of stuff into our writing. I think ethnographic writing is important, and I wish we learned it in our previous english classes. As Sarah was saying, there are some consequences that you have to deal with in ethnographic writing. We are using all the information from the world around us, and sometimes some of the information should not go into the writing without consent from the people it is about. I think this might stop people from using ethnographic writing because it is more work than other types of writing. I agree with Sarah that journalists use ethnographic writing. They do research about their topics and go in depth about what they are writing about. I think that would makes their jobs fun because they get to experience so many things, so they can write about them. Overall I enjoyed this reading. I found it interesting and very informative.

So far the class seems to really like this reading and I would also have to agree. “Putting Ethnographic Writing in Context” was very well organized, informal but still educational and sophisticated. This reading was organized into separate scenarios so the reader can connect to each part on more of a personal level, to some sections more than others depending on personal interest. I really like how in depth Kahn went into his explanations especially with all the examples and simplified definitions in parentheses. The focus on ethnographic was clear throughout the reading and I think this was a good topic to learn about because I believe not many college students really know about ethnographic writing or how they can incorporate this style into their lives.

A part of me was always interested in different cultures and how every human eats, sleeps, and breathe, but the diversity from one culture to the next is really fascinating. I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of a different culture when I went on a trip to Turks and Caicos. Prior to my trip, I had no idea how the people there lived, but I got to experience hands-on part of their rituals and celebrations. I think ethnographic writing is important because this is where all the diversity and uniqueness comes into play. Writing is a way of expressing and I believe expressing cultural values is important and we as people can learn a lot from how others live.

I have to say by far this is my favorite article to read in this class. it was well organized in a way that a reader will get a better understand. At least I did. This piece is definitely informal. I never heard of the word Ethnographic or even know what it means until I read. Khan was very clear with all the information’s and examples he gave throughout . This remind me of the time I was a member at the US-Africa Ambassadorship program, we use go to different African events and right about our experiences, the diversity in culture and so on. I think the fact that I can relate somehow, actually made me enjoy reading Khan’s writing even more.