How to Read Ethnography

by Paloma Gay y Blasco, Huon Wardle

How to Read Ethnography is an essential guide to approaching anthropological texts. It helps students to cultivate the skills they need to critically examine and understand how ethnographies are built up, as well as to think anthropologically and develop an anthropological imagination of their own. The authors reveal how ethnographically-informed anthropology plays a distinctive and valuable role in comprehending the complexity of the world we live in.

This fully revised second edition includes fresh excerpts from key texts for analysis and comparison along with lucid explanations. In addition to concerns with argument, authority, and the relationship between theory and data, the book engages with the purpose, value, and accountability of ethnographic texts, as well as with their reception and usage. A brand new chapter looks at the kinds of collaboration between informants/consultants and anthropologists that go into the making of ethnographic writing.

Genres: Anthropology, Ethnography, Nonfiction

233 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 2006

Reviews

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book offers a very good introduction to ethnographic writing and anthropological fieldwork, particularly useful for those without a background in anthropology but wanting to know more about the discipline. It could be made richer by including more Southern scholars (even from other disciplines), including both their perspectives and work on key issues covered, but I guess the book reflects the Eurocentrism (and colonial origins) of the field. Regardless, I would still highly recommend it for those wanting to acquire foundational knowledge on social anthropology, particularly to learn how to approach and analyse ethnographies.

[Jay Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and concise. Also, the practice activities are well-designed