Based on the readings about the ethnography of communication (EC) you have done so far and our discussions in class consider these questions for your first assignment:
I) Based on the review essays of EC and the case studies you read, consider (a) what are these studies asking, and (b) in what ways do they draw on EC?
II) How do the studies you read demonstrate some of the commitments and elements of EC research?
III) Given a particular intellectual interest, how might you pose an ethnographic research question about it?
After considering these questions write an essay that addresses these issues:
- Identify a research question (RQ) you would like to pursue as an ethnographic research project.
- Review and outline some of the main commitments your ethnography would have in order to carry out a study of that research question. For this part of the essay you should
• Make these commitments of EC specific to your project. Talk about how you hope to use EC to carry out your particular research interest. These projections might change, but try to create a general schema for how you might begin to address your question(s).
• Draw on the literature you read for class. You may also use additional EC literature if you like, but it is not necessary. But do make sure you use as much of the literature from class as is relevant to your proposed study. The key here is to demonstrate that you understand the readings we did on EC as a theory and method for studying communication. - Finally, you want to address why (or why not) these commitments of EC are both (a) relevant, and (b) important to your particular st
Essay 2: Activity Theory
What activity theory would you like to examine? Presented in this class are theories of face, speech acts, person-referring forms, relational dialectics, cultural terms for talk, norms and rules, and narrative. Select ONE of these activity theories and review the underlying universal features of the communicative activity in question. Drawing on the case studies identified in the associated readings review some of the local/cultural features of communication found through an ethnographic study of that activity theory.
Essay 3: Fieldwork Interpretation
Ethnographers are concerned that they understand the meaningfulness of communication from the vantage point of the participants who produce that communication. Participant ideas about who they are, what they are doing, how they feel about who they are and what they are doing, and how they relate with their natural and social worlds, this and more becomes an essential part of ethnographic inquiry. Being able to argue that you know something about this “participant view” is one essential objective of ethnography.
In this essay, you will move from your explorations of ethnographic theory to a description and interpretation of the communication active in the speech community you studied. To accomplish this you should make sure you explicate these things:
- Select some pattern of communication that was active in the speech community you observed. Describe it! Provide examples from your data that show that the pattern exists. Use the Hymes SPEAKING mnemonic to help you create these descriptions.
- State how there is facework, speech acts, cultural terms for talk, address terms, norms and rules, narrative, or a relational dialectic that gives meaning to the communication practiced by participants. Do not emphasize why this is important to YOU, or what YOU think this means. At this point, you should be giving attention to what the participants think is happening, why it is happening, and/or why it is important and/or meaningful that it is happening that way. Yes, you can use quotes from your interview and fieldwork data. You can also add to this by summarizing participant quotations.
Sample Solution