Expressions of Ethnography: Novel Approaches to Qualitative Methods

318 Pages·2003·2.324 MB·English

by  Robin Patric Clair

EXPRESSIONS OF ETHNOGRAPHY

EXPRESSIONS
OF
ETHNOGRAPHY
Novel Approaches to Qualitative Methods
Robin Patric Clair
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
©2003 State University of New York
All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Expressions of ethnography : novel approaches to qualitative methods / Robin Patric
Clair, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-5823-7 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5824-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Ethnology—Methodology. 2. Ethnology—Research. 3. Qualitative research. I.
Clair, Robin Patric.
GN33.E97 2003
305.8’007’2—dc21
2002045258
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue Introduction xi
Part One
An Overview of Ethnography
Chapter 1 The Changing Story of Ethnography 3
Robin Patric Clair
Part Two
Ethnographic Perspectives
Chapter 2 Living and Writing Feminist Ethnographies:
Threads in a Quilt Stitched From the Heart 29
Pamela Chapman Sanger
Chapter 3 Musings on Critical Ethnography, Meanings, and
Symbolic Violence 45
Jim Thomas
Chapter 4 What is Interpretive Ethnography? An Eclectic’s Tale 55
H. L. Goodall Jr.
Chapter 5 Postmodernism, Ethnography, and Communication Studies:
Comments and a Case 65
Bryan C. Taylor
Chapter 6 An Ethics for Post-Colonial Ethnography 77
Maria Cristina González
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Clair_Expressions_FM 7/2/03 8:16 PM Page vi
vi Contents
Chapter 7 The Beauty and Logic of Aesthetic Ethnography 87
Robin Patric Clair
Part Three
Dialogue and Interview as Expressions of Ethnography
Chapter 8 Ethnographic Interviewing as Contextualized Conversation 97
Christina W. Stage and Marifran Mattson
Chapter 9 Contextualized Conversation: Interviewing Exemplars 107
Marifran Mattson and Christina W. Stage
Chapter 10 Hearing Voices/Learning Questions 119
William K. Rawlins
Chapter 11 Sighted, Blind, and In Between: Similarity and Difference
in Ethnographic Inquiry 127
Elaine Bass Jenks
Part Four
Personal Narratives as Expressions of Ethnography
Chapter 12 Ethnography as the Excavation of Personal Narrative 141
Robert L. Krizek
Chapter 13 Telling the Story of Birth 153
Paaige K. Turner
Chapter 14 Watching the Watchers: Making Sense of Emotional
Constructions Behind Bars 159
Sarah J. Tracy
Part Five
Short Stories as Expressions of Ethnography
Chapter 15 Hands 175
Lisa M. Tillmann-Healy
Chapter 16 He Touched, He Took 177
Christine E. Kiesinger
Chapter 17 Happy to Be Writing 185
Patricia Geist-Martin
Contents vii
Chapter 18 The Millennium Waltz: AStory in Three-Quarter Time 189
Julie M. Crandall and Mary Helen Brown
Part Six
Novels as Expressions of Ethnography
Chapter 19 Geocommunication: AParadigm of Place 195
Catherine Becker and Frederick C. Corey
Part Seven
Artifacts as Expressions of Ethnography
Chapter 20 “Reality Ends Here”: Graffiti as an Artifact 219
Dean Scheibel
Chapter 21 Sense-Making Artifacts on the Margins of Cultural Spaces 231
Amardo Rodriguez
Part Eight
Genealogy and Postcolonial Identities as Expressions of Ethnography
Chapter 22 Genealogy as an Ethnographic Enterprise 243
Jason E. Combs
Chapter 23 In Search of Naunny’s Ethnicity: An (Auto)Ethnographic
Study of a Family’s Ethnic Identity 257
Nick Trujillo
Chapter 24 Rhythms of Dis-Location: Family History, Ethnographic
Spaces, and Reflexivity 271
Devika Chawla
Chapter 25 Starvin’Marvin’s Got an Injun: AVisit to the Homeland 281
Robin Patric Clair
Epilogue Future Directions 289
List of Contributors 291
Index 297

Acknowledgments
It is an honor to have worked with the contributing authors of this edited col-
lection. Each has brought unique insights to the topic and expression of ethnog-
raphy. At the close of individual chapters many of the contributors, including
myself, have acknowledged the assistance of those who have helped them in one
way or another with their specific chapter. With respect to the book in its entirety,
I would like to acknowledge the professional and ever so pleasant assistance I
received from both Diana Cable and Kim Sole in the word processing of this col-
lection. I am also indebted to Lani Blackman, copyeditor and Kelli M. Williams,
production editor. Finally, I would like to thank my editor at State University of
New York, Priscilla Ross.
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