Despite taking a few intro anthropology classes, I sometimes still find the premise of ethnography somewhat complicated. This being said, I believe the Murchinson reading really helped to clarify some of the basic proponents of ethnography and helped delineate its purpose in the field of anthropological research. One aspect of the reading that aided in my understanding of how ethnography has come to be what it is today was the section that provided a brief history on the topic. When ethnography first emerged, it typically consisted of defining and describing various groups, gathering a series of wide-ranging accounts to compile in a sort of culminating definition. The problem with this is that many early ethnographies failed to address the “how” portion of research, and often assumed that a a few individuals could speak for the entire group being studied, neglecting the complexity of different factors such as gender, age, race, etc. Today’s ethnography has significantly evolved from what it one was, serving as a more accurate research strategy that allows for a more holistic examinations of the societies and cultures that contribute to our fundamental human experience. With various methods such as participant observation, ethnography has developed more immersive and comprehensive techniques that are able to better capture a wide variety of populations and societies.
For my research topic, I had two potential ideas in mind. One of them I was looking into was to dive more into an increasingly problematic issue not just on Vanderbilt’s campus but on college campuses nationwide– sexual assault. I’ve done preliminary looks into this specific problem for other classes, but haven’t really gotten the chance to delve farther into researching the process of reporting and the flaws with university response or lack thereof. Another potential topic would be the different experiences of student athletes on Vanderbilt’s campus, and potentially more specifically– how they are treated differently in the classroom. Between these two topics, I’m most likely more passionate about the first, but recognize it might be difficult to gather data on such a sensitive topic that would require a high level of vulnerability. This being said, I would love to get some advice on which direction would be best for me to go!