2. 职称英语
  3. Ethnography is the study of a particular human society or the process of mak

Ethnography is the study of a particular human society or the process of mak

游客2023-12-20  17
问题     Ethnography is the study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and every- day life of the people who are the subject of his study. Ethnography, by virtue of its intersubjective nature, is necessarily comparative. Given that the anthropologist in the field necessarily retains certain cultural biases, his observations and descriptions must, to a certain degree, be comparative. Thus the formulating of generalizations about culture and the drawing of comparisons inevitably become components of ethnography.
    Modern anthropologists usually identify the establishment of ethnography as a professional field with the pioneering work of the Polish-born British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands of Melanesia. Ethnographic fieldwork had since become a sort of rite of passage into the profession of cultural anthropology. Many ethnographers reside in the field for a year or more, learning the local language or dialect and, to the greatest extent possible, participating in everyday life while at the same time maintaining an observer’s objective detachment.
    This method, called participant-observation, while necessary and useful for gaining a thorough understanding of a foreign culture, is in practice quite difficult. Just as the anthropologist brings to the situation certain inherent, if unconscious, cultural biases, so also is he influenced by the subject of his study. While there are cases of ethnographers who felt alienated or even repelled by the culture they entered, many -- perhaps most -- have come to identify closely with "their people", a factor that affects their objectivity. In addition to the technique of participant-observation, the contemporary ethnographer usually selects and cultivates close relationship with individuals, known as informants, who can provide specific in- formation on ritual, kinship, or other significant aspects of cultural life. In this process also the anthropologist risks the danger of biased viewpoints, as those who most willingly act as informants frequently are individuals who are marginal to the group and who may provide other than objective explanations of cultural and social phenomena. A final hazard inherent in ethnographic fieldwork is the ever-present possibility of cultural change produced by or resulting from the ethnographer’s presence in the group.
    Contemporary ethnographies usually adhere to a community, rather than individual, focus and concentrate on the description of current circumstances rather than historical events. Traditionally, commonalities among members of the group have been emphasized, though recent ethnography has begun to reflect an interest in the importance of variation within cultural systems. Ethnographic studies are no longer restricted to small primitive societies but may also focus on such social u- nits as urban ghettos. The tools of the ethnographer have changed radically since Malinowski’s time. While detailed notes are still a mainstay of fieldwork, ethnographers have taken full advantage of technological developments such as motion pictures and tape recorders to augment their written accounts. [br] Which of the following may NOT give biases to the ethnographer’s study of culture?
选项 A、The people who answer his questions.
B、His own cultural background.
C、The kind of information he wants to get.
D、The changes made by his presence in the culture in question.
答案 C
解析 该题问：下面哪一个不可能使人种学家的文化研究带有偏见?文章第三段提到了文化人类学家可能产生偏见的几个来源。本段第二、第三句指出，正像人类学家可能将某些内在的，也许是无意识的文化偏见带入自己的研究一样(可证明B不符合文章内容)，他也会受到自己的研究对象(the subject of his study)的影响。虽然文化人类学家有时可能感觉受到自己进入(做研究)的文化的疏远——乃至于排斥，许多，也许多数人会逐渐与“他们的人”(指被研究的文化中的人)发展亲密的关系，这一因素会影响到他们研究的客观性。下面两句提到，在与受询者(informant，指在人类学研究中被询问并回答研究者问题的人)逐渐熟悉的过程中，文化人类学家也可能获得失之客观的信息。可见，A不符合文章内容。第三段最后一句提到，做实地研究(fieldwork)的一个不可避免的危险是，由文化人类学家本人进入被研究的文化而引起的该文化的变化的可能性。这样，作为研究者的这位文化人类学家就无法观察到未发生变化前的文化模式。因此D也不符合文章内容。
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