Ethnography

When people go to a place where the culture is different from their own, interact with people there, research the lifestyles and history of the people there and write about the experience it is known as ethnography. Ethnographers believe that you cannot separate people from their social, cultural and geographical environments and still gain an understanding about those people.

Ethnographers use several techniques to find out about people in other cultures in order to write about them. They use direct observation by participating in the daily behavior of the culture.

Ethnographers might have conversations with people in the culture. Whether the level of the formality of the conversation is a form of small talk or a long interview, the ethnographer can learn a great deal about people by speaking with them.

Another method that someone might use to learn about the people in a culture is to do a genealogical study of the people. The ethnographer might use formal or informal records to discover who is kin to whom and in what way whether it is through descent or marriage. A study of the beliefs and perceptions of the people as a whole might also be appropriate.

When someone practices ethnography, he or she must also take in to account their own presence in the society when recording his or her findings. The very fact that the ethnographer is present might change how the indigenous people act and react in various situations. Especially if the people that the ethnographer is studying are aware that someone is writing about them, they will probably put on their best faces and practices in order to impress people who will eventually read about them.

In today's society, marketers and advertisers use ethnography as a jumping off point to know how to market and advertise certain products to various cultures.