Ethnography Examples

The examples that we were assigned to look at were very intersting. I now understand that there a few different layouts that can be done with this task. Most of the portfolios didnt have seperate pages for the different projects but had just one tab for the final project. I like this approach however i think it would be better if the reader could see the drafts of all of the projects. I think it is very important that they see the writing process that goes into creating a paper. Also i saw that the examples had the parts of that paper broken down. These break downs were pretty much that paper topics that were assigned to us.

Assignment- Mike Rose

One of the major things that I realized with this essay is the fact that the writer uses a lot of detail. When talking about his grandmother’s kitchen, he goes into the different aspects and then goes right into talk about his uncle frank. The writer, once again, gives a lot of detail about this person so you feel that you actually know him. After talking about him he introduces the railroad and, in that, then talks about different jobs that require real manual labor. Then we go into how he watched his mother working hard and I think this is where he gets his work ethic.

The different aspects of this piece, such as talking about the different people and different locations, make it very interesting. These things make the reader want to keep reading and keep your attention. In the beginning he talks about how his family was very involved in manual labor and then mid way through, he goes into watching his mother work as a waitress. I like how the writer describes things before he tells about his personal experiences with it. This allows the reader to know what they are reading about before they learn about the experience or the location. All-in-all, I believe this is a good reading with a lot of sophisticated things included in it.

Ethnographic Analysis

I believe my project is missing some secondary research. I would like to get some more information about the area around my site. I would like to learn more about the residents and what Blacksburg is like. I feel most of the college students are shielded from the real residents because we are always on campus. My project has a lot of first hand research from being in Kroger so much and seeing different people.

At first look, you wouldn't think there were many patterns because of how random everything is. You could go in there two days in a row and see completely different things. There are a lot of consistencies with the staff. You always see them dressed in their full uniform, even in the middle of the night, and they are always courteous and professional. As for the customers, I believe there is a pattern along the lines of when people shop there. Usually in the morning, you do not see many students. The main flow of students comes around 3 because everyone is done with classes and most are going to or coming from the empo. Around 5 or so, you see an influx of adults which are getting off of work and coming to get things for dinner.