Ethnographic realism
Encyclopedia
Within the field of anthropology
and other social sciences, ethnography
is a genre of writing used to describe human social and cultural interactions. Ethnographic realism is a style of ethnographic writing that narrates the author's experiences and observations as if the reader was witnessing or experiencing events first hand. A work written using ethnographic realism may be referred to as a realist ethnography, and classified as a subgenre of ethnography.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and other social sciences, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
is a genre of writing used to describe human social and cultural interactions. Ethnographic realism is a style of ethnographic writing that narrates the author's experiences and observations as if the reader was witnessing or experiencing events first hand. A work written using ethnographic realism may be referred to as a realist ethnography, and classified as a subgenre of ethnography.
Styles of ethnographic realism
George Marcus and Dick Cushman described and categorized realist ethnographies under certain characteristics.- Totalizing description
- Omniscient narration
- Native interpretation
- Generalizations
- Jargon