The Role of Reflexivity in Ethnography Essay -- Anthropology Science E

The design of Reflexivity in EthnographyReflexivity, as I understand it, is genuinely well named.It is the practice of reflecting upon oneself and ones 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 straightforward form (or at least the form most obvious to me), reflexiveness is manifest in the practice of an ethnographer including herself in her own ethnographic research---seeing herself non as an unbiased, impartial (Mali nowski 18) observer, but as an essential and un-removable part of her study. The arrange of reflexivity on ethnographic writing has been, how ever so, much broader than just that. It signals a departure from the ideology of objectivity and distance which for so long pervaded ethnography (Marcus 189). For those who choose to employ it, reflexivity offers the (often daunting) liberty of not presuming to have whole the answers. While t his obviously presents logistical problems for anthropology (such as If we orduret ever come to an answer, then whats the point?), reflexivity has had a occur in producing some of the most compelling, unassuming texts that Ive read.Anthropology is, in my opinion, not a science.Its simply not that static. Culture is not something that can be understood the way one can understand gloominess or electricity.It is open for interpretation, open for many different interpretations, and I same it that way. Im immediately turned off by an ethnographer who claims to spang the truth about his subject frankly, I dont deliberate it. And even if something is true for a given culture at a given time, whos to say it wont have all in all changed in five years? I think that formulating a... ...e only one, and that no one ethnographer can prove that theyve gotten a culture any to a greater extent than any one else (197).Again, this brings me back to the then whats the point? problem. In my opin ion, what we need are more interpretations of cultures. In that case, there is even more of a need for the work that we do as ethnographers. The point is very larger now than it was before. How much would critical thinking be facilitated if we had something differentiate with and be critical about? Any interpretation of culture is worthy looking at because, since a human thought it up, its at heart our realm of study. As Rosaldo writes, the truth of objectivism---absolute, universal, and timeless--- has lost its monopoly status (21). The goal now is to find a reflexive, self-critical medium between objectivism and self-indulgence. I feel standardised we might actually get there.