On Ethnography -- Reading Response for June 8

Heath and Street write that ethnographic research is all about "making the familiar strange" (p. 32). If we all assume that every individual is multicultural, we must view each individual's cultural identity as a complex network of interconnecting circles, each representing a single component of that person's identity. For example, my cultural identity is a blend of Polish, German, and American cultures. On the other hand, I am also a poet, compositionist, educator, and literary theorist. In an ethnographic study, it may be benificial to explore the borderlands between each of these cultural rings, and look at yourself from an outsider's perspective.

Recursive theory allows us to acknowledge the myth of the "innocent ethnographer" (p. 34). This is because each of us have a unique cultural identity that informs how we observe others, both inside and outside our native cultures. For example, if I were to conduct an ethnographic study focused on first-year writing classrooms, my own knowledge of composition pedagogies and theories will impact what questions are asked in surveys. In the case of classroom observations, I would most likely more keenly observe the patterns of interaction with which I am familiar and may ignore the more subtle patterns (or vice versa). Currently I am composing surveys and other research tools to explore the culture of first-year writing. As I do so I am reminded by Street and Heath to "describe only what does happen, not what doesn't happen" (p. 36). As I thought of this topic, I am reminded that I cannot think of a classroom as including or not including technology (after all, pencils are technology too). What I should observe make note of are the types of technologies that I observe in each setting.

In any study, Street and Heath argue that a Literature review is particularly important, because this is responsible for orienting the findings within the scholarly discussion that is currently taking place (or has taken place before). For instance, I were to define "visual rhetoric," it would be necessary to discuss Berlin's rhetorics and tie visual rhetoric into this discussion.