The patriarch of American Anthropology, a.k.a. Papa Franz, was a busy buddy. He published over 800 manuscripts in his career and influenced every aspect of anthropology around the turn of the 20th century.
Born a Polish citizen and educated in London School of Economics, Malinowski was stranded in the Western Pacific islands of Trobriand for four years during WWI. He is thought to have articulated the core elements of "ethnography" in his 500-page book that resulted.
Structuralist theory of the French anthropologist was highly influential in the mid-20th century in social sciences and humanities.
Early innovators of ethnography were mostly men from European background. From top: Franz Boas (German-Jewish American), Bronislaw Malinowski (Polish/ British), Claude Levi-Stauss (French)
WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY?
Ethnography is an assembly of primarily qualitative research method, designed to study human thoughts and actions in their everyday context.
Originally it was developed in the academic field of anthropology, which specialized in studying small-scale non-western societies. Today ethnographic research is used more and more in contemporary settings by researchers from many fields outside anthropology, including sociology, marketing, education, nursing and design.
This unique method is known to generate more reliable information about what people do, in what context, and why, valuable data not only for purely academic research, but also for practical problem-solving.
Ethnography can also refer to a written or visual product of the research conducted, which imparts detailed and nuanced description and analysis of a way of life.
What Does It Do?
First and foremost, ethnography is about describing everyday life - not some exciting incidents or special events, but what ordinary people do, think, feel as they go about doing stuff they do everyday. Ethnographic publications may seem and overly detailed, but that's the nature of studying mundane details of life.
More and more people have become intrigued by the richness of data derived from ethnographic research and its potential value for real-life problem-solving, for example, understanding consumer behavior, evaluating existing products and services or designing new ones that best meet the needs of the target population.
Want to Learn More?
Here are essays, presentations, suggested readings and other resources for those of you who want to learn more about the history of ethnography. These are the topics I typically cover in my introductory courses, so that students have a solid understanding of how ethnography evolved over time and what are the key considerations in ethnographic practices today.
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Early Development of Ethnography (article)
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Forthcoming: Contending with Colonial Past