Choosing an ethnographer
On the established anthropological principle,When in Rome, my wife and I decided, only slightly less instantaneously than everyone else,that the thing to do was run too. We ran down the main village street, northward, away from where we were living, for we were on that side of the ring. About half-way down another fugitive ducked suddenly into a compound-his own, it turned out-and we, seeing nothing ahead of us but rice fields, open country, and a very high volcano, followed him. As the three of us came tumbling into the courtyard, his wife, who had apparently been through this sort of thing before, whipped out a table, a tablecloth, three chairs, and three cups of tea, and we all, without any explicit communication whatsoever, sat down, commenced to sip tea, and sought to compose ourselves
“Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”
Clifford Geertz
This is probably my favorite section in Geertz’s ethnography because it is unlike an other ethnography that I’ve read in my classes. His use of thick description gives the reader a better perception of the surroundings. In this passage he is describing how he ran from the police with his wife just like the locals were doing. He could have easily just explained he was there doing research but I like that he took off like everyone else. I think i may use a similar writing style when composing my paper because I like the use of describing your surroundings and focusing on the established “friendships” with your informants. It is a good example to follow for someone who is writing an ethnography for the first time because its not ’stiff’ or purely factual.
Jen