Personal ethnography essay

This type of research could sometimes last for years. For example, Colin M. Turnbull lived with the Mbuti people for three years in order to write the classic ethnography The Forest People. Today, ethnography is a common approach in various social science fields, not just anthropology.

Before we embark on learning how to write an ethnography, let us have a look at an ethnographic essay outline. It is where you introduce your thesis statement, which is the main idea of the whole project. A proper ethnographic research topic would form a strong foundation for this part.

For example, Colin M. Turnbull lived with the Mbuti people for three years in order to write the classic ethnography The Forest People. Today, ethnography is a common approach in various social science fields, not just anthropology.

In order to embed yourself in the setting and gather enough observations to build up a representative picture, you can expect to spend at least a few weeks, but more likely several months. This long-term immersion can be challenging, and requires careful planning. Ethnographic research can run the risk of researcher bias.