Teaching Toward Transformation:
Undergraduates and Ethnography
Society for Applied Anthropology meetings in Dallas, Texas, Spring 2004.
Session Organizers: SHANDY, Dianna J. (Assistant Professor, Macalester) and AKESON, Cole V. (Macalester ’05)
Session Abstract: Teaching, one of the most understated, yet powerful, advocacy roles an anthropologist can hold, provides regular opportunities to introduce new generations to the potential offered by an anthropological worldview. Many would agree that one of the best ways to learn anthropology is by “doing it.” Yet ethnographic research has been somewhat limited to graduate students and professional anthropologists. This panel features undergraduate student papers to highlight a method pioneered by the late James P. Spradley and David W. McCurdy to demonstrate how shorter, but significant, ethnographic studies can be done in the context of US society.
Participants and Their Papers
BAKER, Helen Frances (Macalester ‘04)
“It is hard to put people on a budget when they ain’t got anything” An Ethnography of the Indian Food Shelf.
Food shelves are important resources for people who are unable to make their income stretch to meet all of their needs. For this paper I spent three months conducting interviews with the director of Emergency Services at the Dept of Indian Work and doing participant observation at the agency. From this experience, I discovered the challenges the organization faces (finances, finding culturally appropriate food, not having enough resources to get at the root of the problem of poverty among American Indians, finding enough volunteers to help out) as well as the importance of a place like the DIW as a gathering space and resource for the American Indian community.
GURDA, Kjerstin S. (Macalester ‘04)
“Jump: Birth is gonna catch you.”: Ethnography of a Doula.
Birth in our culture is divided between the medical establishment and traditional care providers. This study explores the work birth attendants, or doulas, do, outlining how they conceive of their clients – the mothers- and each other, and how they understand the world of birth on a spectrum of holistic care to medicalized care. Seven interviews conducted with one informant and participant observation gave insight into this birth community, and the truth that it is a deep love of birth and a strong drive to care for women in the best way possible that draws doulas to do this work.
AKESON, Cole V. (Macalester ‘05)
Getting the Truth: An Ethnography of a Police Detective.
Police detectives must learn to conduct investigations amidst a myriad of required procedures and unrelated responsibilities. To succeed at solving crimes they must prioritize their responsibilities, develop effective but lawful methods of interviewing, and use both training and experience to seek and collect physical evidence. All these tasks create a great deal of stress in detectives' lives, thus necessitating the adoption of coping mechanisms to maintain their social lives outside work and their effectiveness as detectives. Interviews using the Spradley-McCurdy Method were conducted with a police detective regarding personal methods, departmental methods, and more general observations on methods within the state and country.
RUBENSTEIN, Alex (Macalester ‘05)
Jokes, Pranks, and Saving Lives: An Ethnography of Firefighters.
Firefighters, because of their association with daring rescues, putting out fires, and saving lives, occupy a uniquely romanticized place in the social imagination. This idealized perception of a firefighter’s world obscures the darker side of their job. In addition to saving lives, firefighters also routinely face death and destruction. Another problem firefighters face is unpredictability. There is never any way to know what will happen next. This paper draws on a series of interviews with a firefighter to delve into the complex contradictions that make up their world.
SANDERS, Olivia Ruth. (Macalester ‘04)
Reaping the Benefits: An Ethnography of a Local Farmer.
For farmers selling produce at the St. Paul farmers' market, their social world revolves around sharing knowledge, maintaining customer relationships, and watching where their fruits and vegetables go. Through in depth interviews with one farmer and participant observation over the course of eight weeks at the local farmers' market, it was clear that success as a small scale farmer lies in his hands-on approach to his work. This paper explores how one farmer is able to specialize in certain areas as well as maintain one of the most diverse farms in the Midwest.
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