Friday, February 13, 2009
Chapter 2 Discussion Question 3
A concept from this weeks reading I found interesting was the ethnography of communication in which a student must place themselves in a position to develop sensitivity to different speech communities. This concept reminds me of a course I took last semester in which we had to find a cultural site and go through several steps in order to create an ethnography. It is so interesting because you have participants and situations which you record during your visits and in my case I actually grew quite fond and close to some of the residents. My ethnography was about a living facility that accepted patients that did not have any other source of living arrangement and that were older adults no longer able to be in the workforce or care for themselves. I actually came to feel quite upset with the administration of this old folks home because I found through my observations they commonly did not act in the best interest of the resident. I still visit the site of my ethnography.
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That is great to see how you put yourself in another situation and viewed the community in another perspective. To see the situations that some people are in can be quite shocking. Living a somewhat middle class livestyle can blind one from what others are enduering and its all within out community as well. I believe that an ethnography is great because it allows the writer to explore and really get into the article.
ReplyDeleteLast semester i as well had a comm class where i put in 48 hours plus into a low income after school program where i helped kids with homework and i spent quality time making friends and getting to know their stories so i can learn from them while they were doing the same. I plan on visiting the site of my service soon because the relationship i built was a memorable one.
Reading your post and the comment from DrewSJSU it seems as though both of you have experienced ethnography of communication. DrewSJSU made a comment that holds true and that is when you find yourself living a certain lifestyle it can blind you to what others are experiencing and how they interact with others.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you still visit the living facilities that you were introduced to from one of your classes. Your experience allowed you to immerse yourself into an environment where you feel comfortable with the people but not with the administration. I was wondering if this was a common feeling with those you associated with or were those living in the environment too immobilized to understand? I guess I am interested in how the communication process took place during your study.
I found the chart on pg. 38 useful; it is titled "What to Look for When Observing Communication". I especially liked the mnemonic of the word "speaking" to describe the elements of communication.
I am glad that you mentioned this concept I think we will find it useful for our cultural paper assignment.