Reflecting on On Ethnography

The metaphor of learning to juggle as the process undertaken by ethnographers in their fieldwork was a great introduction for me and helped clarify the methodology of ethnography- in fact, now it seems less intimidating than clown work to me. I'm more likely to jump on a plane, fly to an exotic country and submerge myself in a foreign culture than to pick up three red balls and keep them all aloft....grin. Furthermore, I found meaningful Heath and Street's reflections regarding an ethnographer's job, "Sorting out the many connections of language and culture as possible across reoccurring and definable situations" (11).

Additionally, they highlight three situations that are relevant to those connections: individuals setting their own goals toward expertise, groups building their identities, and formal education intuitions transmitting prescribed values, skills, and bodies of information. Ironically, as a future ethnographer, it seems that I would experience the first two aspects through my own observations, as on cannot not be influenced through her actions. This is the most meaningful aspect of ethnography that I have gleaned from the past two days of discussions and readings. As an ethnographer, I should be expected to be influenced by my observations. Surprising and provocative. I'm looking forward to learning more about this.