Essay on Reflexivity - 1131 Words

Reflexivity When an ethnographer examines a group of people, she is influenced by her position and understanding of her own culture. Before an ethnographer even begins her research, her opinion is effecting the process of selecting a topic. For instance, Anthropology’s most commonly known researcher Bronslow Malinowsky wrote the Argonauts of the Western Pacific. He did not choose to study a culture similar to his own because of the interest he had in the ‘exotic’. His preferences told him to pick a more remote group of people, the Trobriand Islanders. There has been a history of choosing the opposite of the Anthropologists own culture. Reflexivity is the use of one’s experiences to examine a culture. It is my argument that†¦show more content†¦Resaldo realizes that by including personal events he may come out sounding less professional. However, I feel it is more professional [especially to this discipline] to be honest about how one concludes regardin g an aspect of culture. His acknowledgment of the natural emotions that surround rituals gives the reader a more comprehensive and complete account of events. To leave out such emotions from ethnographies is to â€Å" . . . remove potentially key variables from their explanations (p.12).† I feel it is worth the use of personal events to base explanations on –even when the risk looked down upon is prevalent. Ruth Behar supports this idea in The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology that Breaks Your Heart. Behar addresses the critics of reflexive anthropology who think that because personal experience cannot always be believed or seen as factual (Behar: p.169). Scott Michaelson and David Johnson are her two targets in the speech she has included in her writings. She argues that though Michaelson and Johnson impose their critique of Resaldo’s vulnerability and discussing his feelings regarding his wife’s death, they never make themselves vulnerable (p.169). The vulnerable state that Resaldo put himself in by telling the way in which his wife died and how it effected him does notShow MoreRelated Reflexivity: Crossing That Line1036 Words   |  5 PagesReflexivity: Crossing That Line Traditionally, ethnographic works had always been about objective studies of the â€Å"other.† The discipline attempts to use non-biased methods to research of our subjects to qualify anthropology into the category of science. However, an increasing number of anthropologists begin to question the existence of objectivity in fieldwork. More recently, some anthropologists advocate the incorporation of the self, or the use of reflexivity, in the research to acknowledgeRead MoreTheoretical Concerns Of Reflexivity And Subjectivity1614 Words   |  7 Pagesuse a Qualitative method of analysis – a method that forms with the help of opinions and more importantly, one that derives meaning. In the following essay I shall be discussing theoretical concerns of reflexivity and subjectivity in qualitative research from a postmodernist approach. â€Å"Can reflexivity be encouraged and enhanced by building it into our research methods and processes, and by creating appropriate times, spaces, and contexts to be reflexive? At the same time, is there a limit to how reflexiveRead MoreEssay on The Pros and Cons of Ethnographic Reflexivity849 Words   |  4 PagesThe Advantages and Limits of Ethnographic Reflexivity Awareness of writing choices generates an appreciation of the reflexivity of ethnographic research. Reflexivity involves the recognition that an account of reality does not simply mirror reality but rather creates or constitutes as real in the first place whatever it describes. Thus ‘the notion of reflexivity recognizes that texts do not simply and transparently report an independent order of reality. Rather, the texts themselves are implicatedRead MoreThe Movie The Demand For Self Reflexivity 2366 Words   |  10 Pagesthat it has been around for a long time makes the new developing genre of comedy/horror understandable, as a way to both reflect on the generic tropes that have become second nature, as well as provide a new viewing experience. The demand for self-reflexivity can be seen in various social media and fan outcries whereby audiences constantly belittle or ridicule their most beloved genre. They focus on the classic elements of the genre, and how widespread they be come throughout each movie, therefore commentingRead MoreEssay on Reflexivity and Modern Works of Anthropology1090 Words   |  5 PagesReflexivity and Modern Works of Anthropology The role of reflexivity in Anthropology has changed a great deal over time. The effects of doing ethnography on the ethnographer was not considered an important mode of inquiry in the past. While inevitably, going to far distant lands and living with a culture so different from your own will at least cause the ethnographer to reflect on personal issues but most likely will cause profound changes in the way he or she will view the world. But in theRead MoreEssay about The Role of Reflexivity in Ethnography1395 Words   |  6 PagesThe Role of Reflexivity in Ethnography Reflexivity, as I understand it, is very well named.It is the practice of reflecting upon oneself and one’s work, of being self-aware and self-critical. In anthropology, it is well exemplified by the work of Renato Rosaldo, Ruth Behar, and Dorinne Kondo, among others. In its most obvious form (or at least the form most obvious to me), reflexivity is manifest in the practice of an ethnographer including herself in her own ethnographic research---seeing herselfRead MoreIndividual Experience And Reflexivity By Renato Rosaldo s The And Reconstitution Of Self 931 Words   |  4 PagesIndividual experience and reflexivity ought to be utilized inside humanities as an instrument to ponder the society that is consistently mulled over and not a refocusing of consideration on the self. Works, for example, Dorinne Kondo s Disintegration and Reconstitution of Self, utilize the thought of reflexivity as a mirror in which to view the society being considered in an alternate way. This utili zation of reflexivity considers the center to stay on the society being concentrated on. A moveRead MoreArticle Review : Reflexivity As A Methodology By Its Existing Influence And So Far Problems?1886 Words   |  8 PagesGI402 Summative Essay Jayati Lal argues that ‘reflexivity [cannot be] an end in itself ’ and suggests that a ‘reflexive and self-critical methodological stance can become meaningful only when it engages in the politics of reality and intervenes in it in some significant way’ (1996: 207). Critically discuss. With the growth in discussion of power relation between researcher and researched, it is noticed that position of researcher is important to be involved in research process (Rich, 1986; CodeRead MoreEssay about Ethnography1634 Words   |  7 Pagesethnographic authority. One such method is the use of reflexivity in the ethnography. Ethnographers such as Renato Rosaldo in his work Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis and Bronislaw Malinowski in his work Argonauts of the Western Pacific assume their authority through the use of reflexivity. On the other hand, there are authors such as George E. Marcus in his work Ethnography Through Thick and Thin, who explain that reflexivity should be used as a means of demonstrating that one cannotRead MoreEssay on The Role of the Reflexive Ethnographer1252 Words   |  6 Pagesanthropology. The use of reflexivity has and will always be questioned in anthropology. Malinowski, who was a pioneer in the field of anthropology, discou raged the use of reflexivity; he, instead, believed that anthropology was scientific and could produce â€Å"concrete evidence† (Malinowski 17). Reflexivity is way in which anthropologists try to get rid of this scientific and rigid anthropology; it is a move towards an emotional and self-reflective anthropology. Reflexivity denies the structuralism