Homework #4: Reflection on Ethnography Articles

Three different links were provided to us to gain a deeper understanding of what ethnography is.

Ethnography Itself:
Based on the Wikipedia and Book Description articles, I found this topic really interesting and really strange at the same. For a Technology and Computing course, this topic is a bit off topic, but I love it. From what I gathered, ethnography is the study of the nature of people, represented graphically and in writing. The goal of  an ethnographer is to explain not the culture itself, but the culture from the point of view from the native. I found that to do this, the author has to get to know the native on a personal level and relate to them. They have to be able to see their life and beliefs as they see it and try to learn culturally what's different.

I thought this was interesting and unique as I feel most people do not put the effort to try and understand this. People fight, argue, and create resentment towards other because they do not understand others. They are stuck in their own belief and fail to try to put themselves in the other person's shoes. If more people attempt to try and see life like this, I think people would most definitely get along better. As long as they are open to the ideas besides their own.



Coming of Age in Samoa and Reception:
This article was about a book which was written by an anthropologist.who studied the coming of age in Samoa. Field work was conducted in Samoa and focused on young women between the ages of 9 and 20. She found that the "passage from childhood to adulthood in Samoa was a smooth transition and not marked by the emotional or psychological distress, anxiety, or confusion seen in " America. After publishing these findings, reception was somewhat mean and commented by people who did not agree with the casual encounters the people of Samoa had between each other. Cultures between these two different lands were very different and people took offense to those differences.

One of those people was Derek Freeman, who attacked the book and author herself because of what was written. Freeman tried to prove her wrong by stating her encounters were falsified and lied about, but eventually was proven wrong himself in that he wasn't able to see the life the Samoa people had because he didn't emotionally connect.

I think this topic is very interesting and will be something people will eventually come to appreciate as cultures and people begin to blend together.