Reading Ethnography

Key Elements of Ethnography

• Ethnography consists of an in-depth look at a culture or subculture;
• often limits the study to a specific aspect of culture;
• relies on the field of anthropology for its theoretical base;
• addresses issues of gaining access, role of observer, power issues; and
• often uses words of participants in written presentations.
• Much of the research in ethnography comes out of the field of education.

The first article is by Misako Nukaga. It is a study of Korean-American students in Los Angeles. Specifically, it targets how children use food as a symbolic resource to negotiate group boundaries in peer interaction. Nukaga doesn't travel to another country to study a culture different from her own. Instead, she selects Korean-American students who attend school in a large urban area. Because she is of Japanese descent, Nukaga says it is easy for her to study other Asian students. Nukaga's study of [Page 6]Korean-American children during their school lunchtime presents a slice of culture that will be unfamiliar to many of you. Because she is an adult and working in the school, power discrepancies occur. Nukaga does try to minimize them by sitting with the kids and “becoming one of them.” Nukaga was a student when this article was published, and received a fellowship to support her dissertation.

The study follows a traditional approach to ethnography. It includes a detailed review of the literature that focuses on issues related to food and ethnicity. As a fairly traditional ethnography, she writes in a somewhat remote and objective style, and not in the personal style that you will encounter in the second study in this chapter. Unlike a contemporary ethnography, which might explore issues of feminism, power, and reflexivity, this study is more traditional in its look and in its format. In addition, it includes detailed quotes.

In contrast to Nukaga's study, Alecia Jackson's study presents an ethnography that is less traditional. She calls it “post-structural.” On first glance, it appears that Jackson's ethnography is a study of high school girls in a small town. As you read in greater depth, however, you will discover the article is really about Jackson's role and how she negotiates and comes to understand being an ethnographer in a personal setting. In fact, it goes far afield from what you might expect. It fits quite well into a poststructural model because she relies on the philosophical contributions of Michel Foucault, a French philosopher who wrote about power and knowledge.

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