Essay Assignment: Ethnographic Analysis
At this point in the course, you have encountered many anthropological themes and theories. This essay is your opportunity to synthesize your powers of observation and your understanding of core course concepts and readings. You are to choose an “ethnographic situation”—it can be something to which you have live, direct access (i.e. you are able to immerse yourself in the situation in person), or something to which you have indirect access (for example, on ongoing situation that you have been following in the news). Your task is to put this ethnographic situation in dialogue with the course material. General questions to think about are as follows:
How does the course material help you better understand what you are observing? How does what you are observing help you better understand a given concept in the course? How might what you are observing cause you to revise/critique one of the concepts addressed in the course?
Essay Sections
The essay should have five distinct sections, each with the appropriate heading.
1. Section 1: Introduction—This section should provide a snapshot of the entire essay. This snapshot should have three elements. One, it will introduce the audience to the content of the ethnographic situation that you have chosen. Second, you will explain how the ethnographic situation supports or contradicts a particular concept/theory raised in the course. This second portion would qualify as your argument/thesis. Third, you must provide a map of the remainder of the essay.
2. Section 2: Observations—You should provide a detailed description of the ethnographic situation. Although you are obviously going to have a great deal of detail in this section, you should emphasize those features that are most salient to the theory/concept that you will be examining.
3. Section 3: Explication of the Theory—This is your opportunity to engage with your chosen concept(s)/theory(theories). Notice that I used the term “explication”. You are expected to go deeper into your understanding of your chosen concept(s) than we have in the course. You should think critically about the ways that the concept(s) might be inherently logical, ambiguous or contradictory. In your deeper engagement, you should consider other work of the author affiliated with the idea or the work of another author who has written about this idea. This portion of the assignment requires that you do a little outside research.
4. Section 4: Combining Theory with the Ethnographic Situation—Put sections 2 and 3 in dialogue with one another. Demonstrate how the ethnographic situation supports or contradicts the concept(s) that you have chosen. Refer to the questions at the beginning of the assignment description. It is very important that this section be well-organized. For example, you might want to address three different aspects of a particular theory. If so, then let these three aspects be the organizing principles for this section. Or, perhaps there are three different features in the ethnographic situation that you would like to analyze. If so, let these three features structure your analysis.
5. Section 5: Conclusion—Your conclusion should address the broader significance of your study. Questions to consider are as follows: What are some larger issues to which your chosen topic relate? What questions remain to be answered that your analysis did not get an opportunity to address? What are some issues that you would address for future study?

*Optional. Appendices (optional)—If you feel that your ethnography can be made more intelligible by including photographs, illustrations, floorplans, etc., then, by all means, include these at the end of the document. Appendices do not figure into the overall page count.
*A Note About Safety—Do not subject yourself to situations that you judge could be dangerous. Use the utmost discretion when making observations.
*Confidentiality—If you feel that you might be interpreted as an unwelcome interloper, be sure to ask permission before conducting any observations. Where appropriate, use pseudonyms to protect the identities of your subjects/informants.
The document should adhere to the following guidelines:
• 5-7 pages double-spaced
• Cover page (not included in the 5-7 pages)
• Works Cited (also, not included in the 5-7 pages)
• Times New Roman font
• 1-inch margins on all sides
• Page-numbers (with the exception of the cover page) at the bottom-center of each page.
Grading Criteria
• 20%–Your adherence to all above instructions
• 30%–The level of detail and observation in “Section 2”
• 30%–Clarity and analytical sophistication
• 20%–Writing mechanics: grammar, syntax, spelling, etc.
I wish you much success on this assignment!