Anthropologist Have On The Ethnographic Process? Essay, Research Paper
There are many factors which can influence the ethnographic
process for an anthropologist, and a very important one is
his/her sex. This essay will examine the different attitudes
towards sex, the problems that face all ethnographers when they
embark on fieldwork in a different environment to their own, as
well as the? problems and benefits which can arise due to the sex
of an anthropologist. In order to produce a written work about a certain culture or
society (an ethnography, anthropologists must embark on what is
known as the ethnographic process". This term refers
to all of the various activities and research methods which the
anthropologist must undertake if he/she wants to obtain a
profound and objective understanding of the culture being
studied. This process can involve the method of participant
observation, which is the long-term, extreme interaction with a
community and involves the inclusion of the anthropologist in the
day-to-day life of the society, including the attendance of the
anthropologist at rituals, ceremonies etc.. The ethnographic
process also involves the anthropologist expressing the feelings
that he/she has experienced during the course of the fieldwork,
and the relations which they might have built with certain
members of the community so that the readers of the ethnography
can have a deeper understanding of the culture being
studied.
However, the above mentioned factors can easily be affected by
the sex of the anthropologist. The word sex refers to the
biological category into which a person is born; either male or
female" but although the term refers only to the physical
appearance of a person, the extremely diverse biological and
psychological differences between the two sexes have led to there
being a male-female a division and a "gender
hierarchy" existing in virtually all societies. This can
bring about both benefits and problems to the anthropologist, and
this is what will be examined in this essay. When conducting fieldwork in a different environment, there
are many problems which all anthropologists encounter, and learn
to overcome,? despite their sex. The first problem, which often
occurs as soon as the anthropologist arrives in their area of
study, is culture shock. The anthropologist must learn to adapt
him/herself to such basic things as sleeping, bathing, eating,
and in most cases, adjusting to the loneliness and lack of
privacy which he/she is certain to encounter. Some
anthropologists learn that they were quite naive in their ideas
about some things, and try to learn to be a lot more culturally
and emotionally versatile. Also, some anthropologists find that
they are not very welcome into the community, and in some cases,
the members of society form very low opinions about the
anthropologist almost immediately.? Anthropologists also have to
try and gain the respect and co-operation of the community by
behaving in the appropriate manner and learning how to
communicate with them without making them feel uncomfortable or
threatened. However, as many views and expectations about the differences
between the two sexes often form the foundation of standards
around which communities and societies organise their social
lives, the sex of the anthropologists can make a significant
difference in the collection of ethnographic data. Although most
societies in the West regard women and men to be relatively
equal, many societies, for example the Yanomano of South America,
have extremely male-dominated societies within which men are
given greater respect, have a higher social status and enjoy many
more privileges than women. If a female anthropologist was to
enter such a society, in addition to all the "usual"
problems she would encounter, the community would be very likely
to regard her as inferior, and would perhaps also be very shocked
to see a woman without a dominating male partner and behaving so
independently.? Situations such as these are likely to cause
great confusion in these cultures, as the community would have
mixed feelings of curiosity, disbelief, and , especially among
the men, some might feel threatened by her strong position. This
may cause the community to be less willing to allow her to
participate in activities, interview some people etc., and the
anthropologist would probably have to work very hard to become
more accepted. Another problem is that some cultures, most notably among
Muslims, is that relationships between female ethnographers and
male informants are regarded as being taboo and socially
unacceptable. This can cause the female anthropologist"s
research methods and participant observation to be very limited
and can greatly affect the conclusions which she will make about
the community.
Nevertheless, there are some advantages that come with being a
female anthropologist. In the past, most ethnographers were males
who had very little opportunity to see the womens" side in
society as men are more likely to be excluded from women"s
rituals, ceremonies etc. Now that there are many more women
anthropologists, ethnographies can concentrate more on all the
members of the community as it is usually found that women are
more tolerated in the "world of men", allowing
participant observation with both the sexes. There are many
confused ideas concerning the reasons why women are more accepted
than men in some societies, but one of the main arguments is that
women are seen to pose less of a threat due to their lower status
in these societies. In this essay, some different mentalities and attitudes
towards the two sexes have been explored, and the different
problems, as well as the advantages, which female anthropologists
can encounter when conducting fieldwork have been expressed.
There is no real answer to the question of which of the two sexes
would be able to gain better experiences and learn more from
studying a culture or society, as each different sex has both its
advantages and disadvantages regarding the ethnographic process,
and many other factors, such as the society being studied, also
come into play when these projects are carried out. What can be
concluded, however, is that the rising number of female
anthropologists has helped the field of social anthropology
develop and expand as more points of view and experiences are now
being expressed from their side instead of the past
male-dominated view. Through the description of different
cultures by women, readers of ethnographies are now able to form
opinions through more detailed and varied study, benefiting both
the field of social anthropology and general society.