ANT 385: Body, Technology, Enhancement

An ethnography is:

• A FIRST-HAND, descriptive written account about a particular culture or group, focusing on a particular population, place and time, and all with the goal of accurately describing that group, culture, or cultural phenomenon.
• This first-hand account is produced through direct engagement with research participants often over long periods of time.
• It can be either book-length, article-length, or sometimes a film.
• Ethnography is also a qualitative research method that developed in anthropology and has been adopted by many other disciplines.

An ethnography is NOT:

• Produced second-hand from first-hand accounts.
• Opinion or observation reports without an analytical component. Examples of such reports include travel accounts, short newspaper or popular magazine articles, articles written for general readership like those in National Geographic, and letters to the editor.

Where are ethnographic monographs? Are they shelved in a specific place in the library?

Anthropology books about a certain region of the world are often classified with books on that region and NOT in the general anthropology call number (i.e. GN). Similarly, ethnographic monographs written about cultures/groups are classified with the books on that country (e.g. Africa, DT; Asia, DS; Latin America, F) or subject (e.g. ethnographies about education will be in the education section, L).

If they aren't all together in the library, how can I find them?

1) Finding ethnographies in the library catalog:

Ethnographies can be difficult to identify in the catalog because there is no specific subject heading for "ethnography". So, here are some tips for searching for them in the library catalog:

• Identify the correct name of the group you are researching, as well as alternate spellings and variations.
• The most often-used subject heading subheading for ethnographies is "Social life and customs".
• Another subject heading that is useful is "case studies". Although most case studies are not ethnographies, some are. You will have to look at the text to determine if they are actually ethnographies.
• Try a keyword search with "ethnograph*" in addition to your subject. However, unless the book has "ethnography" as part of the title or elsewhere in the description (and most don't), you won't find much.
• Do a keyword search combining the name of the group with the aspect of the culture or topic you want to research. Hopefully some ethnographies will turn up. However, the catalog record won't necessarily tell you this and you will have to look at the book to determine if it actually is an ethnography.

2) Search JSTOR for books and book reviews. Jstor indexes several anthropological journals that publish book reviews as well as books and edited volumes from academic presses.

• For a more comprehensive search use the advanced options and change the access type to Everything.

3) Use a reference resource like Oxford Bibliographies. Search for an article related to your topic and look for relevant cited works. Many articles have a section listing relevant ethnographies.

4) Finding ethnographies using the Anthropology Plus database:

• Ethnogaphy IS a subject heading in the Anthropology Plus database (which searches for journal articles, book chapters, etc...), so enter your subject terms and the word "ethnography" when you do your search.

5) Search the Anthropology Online database. This is a full-text database of published ethnographies, memoirs, archival material, and selected images. This database is not comprehensive, however.

6) Try searching the eHRAF World Cultures database. It includes over 250 full text ethnographies and is updated annually.

• It can be bit clunky to read an ethnography using the eHRAF interface so you may want to search the Emory Library catalog for a another version of the same title.

• Ethnographic Video Online is a collection of documentary films in streaming video format for the visual study of human culture and behavior. Includes classic and contemporary documentaries produced by leading video producers in the discipline.

• Emory also owns many films/videos/dvds related to anthropology. These are included in the library catalog, but may be difficult to identify. Contact the Anthropology Librarian if you need help identifying films on your topic.