I thought that this week’s reading was very useful in choosing an ethnographic research topic. Specifically, I enjoyed reading the author’s discussion of writing and rewriting to reveal the missing pieces that must be addressed and bringing up new ideas and questions, choosing a topic that you are personally committed to, consulting with others, bringing the local and specific into sharp focus, narrowing down a topic, participant observation and close observation, working in the interstices of the emic and etic and sorting through discrepancies between what people say and what they do and between different perspectives, knowledge versus behavior, and focusing on the nonobvious. I thought that these topics and advice, among others in the reading, were very useful and beneficial. I especially liked reading about the concept of the etic (outsider perspective) and the emic (insider perspective) as I have never heard those terms before. The author made it clear that is is important to involve oneself in the emic and the etic in order to work in the interstices of these and sort through discrepancies between what people say and what they do, between different perspectives, between what has been reported/described previously and what has been encountered, and more. I actually made a connection between this part of the reading and what we discussed in last week’s class about Margaret Mead. She worked hard on her research and conducted many interviews and made many observations. However, people later came out with books that tore down her findings and claimed that her research was inadequate. This is a perfect example of a discrepancy between what has been reported/described previously and what is encountered–which can be a point of conflict.
I always found the discussion about knowledge versus behavior quite interesting. While some ethnographers focus on either the behavior aspect or the knowledge aspect, experienced ethnographers work to intertwine both. Knowledge is accessed through informal and formal conversations and through implicit and non-discursive language that is portrayed through observation, imitation, and practice. On the other hand, behavior involves observing the activities of others and experiencing that behavior in action. Though it may be challenging, I hope that I can develop a research topic that allows me to combine both these elements.
I am not sure yet what I want to focus on for my ethnographic project. Since my primary interests are related to biology, conservation, and ecology, I was thinking about choosing a topic related to people at Vanderbilt’s perceptions of climate change and conservation efforts, potentially related to efforts that the Vanderbilt administration and student body has made as of now or plans to make in the future.