Ethnography is the scientific description of contemporary cultures. The term also refers to a written, photographic, or motion-picture report that provides such a description. An ethnography deals with one group of people or, at most, several neighboring peoples. Anthropologists compare ethnographies to determine similarities and differences in how human groups behave. This comparative study is called ethnology. Ethnography and ethnology provide the basis for cultural anthropology, also called social anthropology.
An anthropologist gathers information for an ethnography by doing field work—that is, by living with a group of people and studying their culture. The ethnographer studies the people’s values, daily life, and social relationships. He or she obtains information in a variety of ways, including talking with the people and filming them.
Ethnography requires sensitivity and an ability to speak the language of the people being studied. An ethnographer must become involved with the people to understand their culture. At the same time, he or she must remain a detached, scientific observer.
Most ethnographers are trained in anthropology, particularly cultural anthropology. But other scientists also do ethnographic research. Two classic ethnographies are Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), by the Polish-born anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, and The Nuer (1940), by the British anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard.
