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When I first opened the link to this essay I thought it would be a very easy read for me because the format seemed very organized. I liked how the font was a decent size to read and follow along with. Personally, I thought that Kahn’s way of writing was relatable to many other students which is why I thought it was easy to read. I liked how he tied in some examples of writing in his essay because it probably makes it a convenient piece of writing for his readers to refer back to for guidance. I feel like Kahn gets his main point across throughout the essay, however, I do feel like it was very drawn out or longer than it had to be. I like how he addresses his main point in one of the very first paragraphs. He says “ethnographic writing challenges you to consider everything that’s interesting and difficult about writing; it pushes you to generate, collect, analyze, and synthesize more material than you’ve probably had to work with in one paper before.”
He goes on to say that ethnographic writing can improve your understanding of people and the way they think or talk, improve the lives of the people you write about, and it can help you to reflect on our own positions within different cultures. I like how throughout the essay there are various terms related to ethnographic writing that he defines and gives examples of. I think this factor makes the essay more of an informative piece of writing. He includes a list of the different ways of writing for a project and I think this can relate to many students today as we have a writing process of our own.
One of the important things about ethnographic writing that Kahn mentions is that people learn from a direct experience rather than second-hand experience. I can relate to this myself because it is easier for me to learn in a hands-on method rather than learning from a textbook or a PowerPoint presentation. He goes on to say that ethnographic writing is somewhat similar to a personal reflective essay however there are some differences. I liked the way he compared these two types of writing because it helped clarify what ethnographic writing is all about.
Towards the end of the essay, Kahn talks about how ethnographers always have to remember that their work can have serious implications for their participants. We as the writers are responsible for making the implications as positive as possible and collaboratively determined with the participants. I agree with this statement because ethnographic writing is all about collaboration with yourself and the participants. I like how he says that we have to make sure their needs are just as important as ours because it’s good to understand that balance with the participants as collaborators.
Overall, I thought this essay carried important information that we should all know as students in college. I think ethnographic writing would be fun to try out one time just to compare and contrast to the writing that I’m always used to such as personal narratives. I think the essay did not have to be as long as it is; I felt myself losing the main point. If Kahn shortened this piece a little bit I think it would be a great thing for all college students to read. I liked how in the end he says that the hardest thing about ethnographic writing is that no one can provide a precise formula. It’s all up to you as the writer to do your prewriting, drafting, get feedback, and revising. -
When I first had opened the PDF file I thought it was a lot of pages and I had no clue what ethnography was. As I started to read it I found myself reading through it pretty quickly. It was an easy reading to go through compared to last week’s reading. I like how the font size was bigger than how last weeks was. It did not make me feel as if I was reading out of a textbook. It made me feel as if I was just reading an article online. I have to agree with Brittany that I liked how he tied in some examples into the reading. I find when there are examples to go along with a reading it can make the reader be engaged in the reading. The reader can see if any of the examples relate to them. I feel like in this reading I got what the author was trying to say compared to some of the previous readings we have done in class. I also can agree with Brittany with I learn with hands on rather than a textbook. If I can practice over and over I can eventually master it. If I have to read about it a lot and continue going over power points I can not pick it up quickly. I think it would be interesting to try to write an ethnographic paper just to see if I have ever written one in the past because I do not recall off the top of my head if I ever did or not. I feel like this was an important reading that we have read because it gave us information on a new topic. Overall, I thought this was a good reading just wish maybe it was a little shorter.
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As I began to read this article I also didn’t know what ethnographic writing was. Kahn does a great job at explaining what the word actually means as well as including some examples. Further into the reading as I gained better understanding I realized that I have done ethnographic writing before last semester which was a personal narrative piece . I liked how Kahn used that example because many people especially college students have written personal narratives to gain a better understanding of yourself. I enjoyed how Kahn included the benefits of ethnographic writing to show how it can help writers when they begin to write a piece such as this one. I agree that this reading was a bit long and drawn out because he came to his main point very quickly. I also agree that this is something college students would enjoy reading about because they can gain knowledge of another form of writing they could do rather than the basic personal narratives. This is something that I’m interested in doing one day because it would give me a chance to write about someone who is from a different culture and to have an understanding of their thinking and talking.
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When I first opened up the article, my first impression was that it was going to be a long read. Then as I began to look at it, the font was a decent size and his writing style made it a lot easier to get through. I know a lot of professors hate when you use personal pronouns like you but I love it. I loved how he stays out by saying ” you may be wondering…” I love that because it feels more personal. Also right away he addresses his audience. I think this is very important because if you are not the intended audience it makes reading so much harder. After learning he is a teacher, I knew this would be informative but he would know how to present the information so students like us would understand.
What I really like about ethnography from what he has said is that it cannot follow a strict formula. He also goes on to give steps of the writing and says that it is incomplete and doesn’t have to be in that order. I like this because it keeps the writing a little more fun and not so strict. I always struggle to write essays with strict expectations because it takes away my personal writing touch and is boring. I also like how ethnography is about learning from experiences and not what you read in a textbook. Hands on experience is so much more fulfilling than to read a textbook. He also mentions how ethnographic writing is like personal narrative writing in some ways. You are reflecting without a hypothesis or conclusion which is my favorite kind of writing. Sometimes I like to be able to write without trying to prove something to my reader which is what ethnographic writing is about.
Ethnographic writing sounds very interesting ,but also very hard after reading this article. I feel like it is very hard to account for everyone’s perspective and to not offend anyone by making observations. Like in the author’s example of his first ethnographic project, he caught the student’s perspective but not the teacher and offended him. A lot goes into these papers and so much detail is necessary.
I really like how he worded his conclusion at the end. It reminds you the whole point of his article in a very understandable way. I agree wit Brittany that his paper could have been shorter, but I think this is a great article to read for someone who may want to go into this field. He gives you almost every aspect of what you need to know and what to expect.
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