Your Immersion Project for this course is essentially ethnographic
research. When you hear the words *ethnography* or *ethnographic research*,
you may think of Margaret Mead or Franz Boas performing their research on
cultures outside their own countries and living among their research
subjects. Contemporary ethnographic research includes many other types of
research scenarios, such as urban ethnography, neighborhood studies, and
even microstudies of groups as small as families and individuals.
*Ethnography* is any systematic study of people and cultures, usually
conducted through observation, interviews, dialogues, participation, and
historical research. Ethnography is used across disciplines as varied as
anthropology, linguistics, sociology, advertising, and of course, human
services and social work.
Your Immersion Project is just that—a study of a population group with the
goal of better understanding the culture of the group. As you complete this
project over the course of the semester, keep in mind one of the classical
hallmarks of ethnographic research, pioneered by Boas: The beliefs and
activities of humans have to be interpreted within their own cultural terms
and not evaluated or judged through the cultural lens or terms of the
observer or researcher. That is, human beliefs and behavior are culturally
relative.
This week, you submit your Immersion Project Paper, one of two culminating
parts of your Final Project for this course (along with your narrated
PowerPoint, which is due in Week 10).
This 7--page paper will be a culmination of what you have experienced and
explored throughout your work on this project. Since everyone’s experience
will be different, the content of the paper will vary for each student;
however, there are two sections that everyone should include:
1. Reflection on your Immersion Project:
1. Observation: What observational activity did you attend and what
insight did it give you into your selected population?
2. Dialogue: How did you carry out your dialogue? Reflect on your
experience and what insight it gave you into your selected population.
2. Reaction and Critical Analysis of your experience: This section
should incorporate your reflections on your experiences, what you learned
about the group, what you learned about yourself, and how your perceptions
of this group have changed over time.
Several areas to address in this section:
3. Description of the group
4. Values/belief orientation
5. Social interactions (relationships within and between group members)
6. Religious/spiritual beliefs
7. Roles and expectations
8. Language and communication
*The population I chose is Latinos This 7-page paper will be a culmination
of what you have experienced and explored throughout your work on this
project. Since everyone’s experience will be different, the content of the
paper will vary for each student; however, there are two sections that
everyone should include: Reflection on your Immersion Project: Observation:
What observational activity did you attend and what insight did it give you
into your selected population? Dialogue: How did you carry out your
dialogue? Reflect on your experience and what insight it gave you into your
selected population. Reaction and Critical Analysis of your experience:
This section should incorporate your reflections on your experiences, what
you learned about the group, what you learned about yourself, and how your
perceptions of this group have changed over time. Several areas to address
in this section: Description of the group Values/belief orientation Social
interactions (relationships within and between group members)
Religious/spiritual beliefs Roles and expectations Language and
communication *
GeneralEssayUndergraduate
Need this done?
Similar assignment?
Get it done by a vetted professional writer in as little as 1 hour.