Feedback Response

Ernesto’s response raises important questions. He asks what scholars should and can take from personal accounts of other cultures. It seems that every scholarly work, not just in the field of ethnography but also in history, sociology, etc., will be biased by the views of the author. Every scholar will view a subject differently, and so will write subjectively about it. Even in the sciences, researchers must analyze and interpret their findings—empirical data can show different scholars different things. Ethnographies that are written in a reflexive and subjective style, then, should be taken just as seriously as any scientific paper. Ethnographers should critically read each other’s works and learn about other possible perceptions of a culture, even if they do not align with their own analyses.

It is true that there is no clear answer to Ernesto’s questions about building personal ethnographies based on several other people’s personal experiences. This can be debated at length, and it seems unlikely that any group will come to a consensus, but since I believe it is up to the individual to decide, I will offer my opinion. It seems unfair to judge a culture or even create one’s own ethnography without actually experiencing that culture for oneself. Therefore, ethnographies are interesting to read and serve as an informative teaching tool in many ways, but one cannot truly understand them unless 1) they are about one’s own culture, or 2) one has also experience the culture about which the ethnographer has written.