Subjective Dimension and Culture-Centred Attitude in Ethnographic Research

Author(s):

Barbara Schröttner

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

SES F5, Pre Conf Parallel Session

Time:

2009-09-26

09:00-10:30

Room:

HG, HS 30

Chair:

Florian Waldow

Contribution

The research objective of this analysis is based on the questions, who has done the viewing of the presented facts, how scientific facts are constructed, what their value is, and if they are objective and accurate. On the basis of the theory that “facts” are often a product influenced by the dominant class where scientists, but also artists like authors or painters, construct “reality” after their own needs, values, and experiences, the assumption is that so-called facts do not always symbolize the only “truth” or "reality". Producers of knowledge have been related to their own cultural, religious, and scientific backgrounds and introduced their own viewing on the "reality" which has influenced their approaches to the examined subject. Whatever reality is, apart from that it exists, our impression about it develops out of the way in which we talk about or look at it. It is in this context that it is necessary to disclaim final judgments and firm truths and to concentrate on the precise description of experiences as well as knowledge- and theory-processes and to point out the inevitable influence of subjectivity and culture-centred attitude. The pretended finality of research results consequently support the idealizations and illusions of the accuracy and power of science. Bearing this in mind, the subjectivity of the researcher, apart from other techniques, represents a legitimized method in ethnographic study; one could even argue that the results of the research expose just as much from the mentality of the researcher as from that of the examined Other. The subjective dimension is then the more important the less it is possible to rely on traditional or critical theories of the respective disciplines of science. Besides, the researcher, who is confronted with a set of unknown domains, situations, interrelations and processes, can never approach the Other naturally and with adequate foreknowledge, which often releases defense-mechanisms such as repression, projection, isolation, ethnocentrism, and/or denial. The denial of the strange appearance of reality can lead the researcher to a glorification by idealization and exotization, to a retreat or, in opposite, to moving the rigid structures. The openness with which some researchers try to face the (new) field of research has its methodical limits because no one is able to start the own research completely impartially.

Method

The analysis is based on an interdisciplinary literature analysis as well as on micro-ethnographic studies in the rural areas of the district Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan in India. The field research included a set of ethnographic investigation methods as, for example, overtly first-hand field observations, expert- and ethnographic-interviews, discussions at different levels of formality, documentation and description through protocols as well as narrative and non-standardized interviews.

Expected Outcomes

The outcome of the investigation shows that it is necessary to concentrate on the diverse perspectives of the so-called consistent “reality”, “memory”, or “facts” and to realize that at the present time the representation of the “only truth” increasingly loses its value. The importance of plurality in knowledge-production and -transfer has then to be recognized and a continuous reflection on the difficulties and challenges of ethnographic research has to be acknowledged. It seems to be increasingly necessary to move away from the grand narratives, not because the age of the grand narratives has been left behind on epistemological grounds, but rather that the grand narratives have been adequately told and are presently widely accepted. Thus, smaller narratives which pay attention to local topography are needed in a time of globalization. However, the global narratives do not disappear, but there is a chance to read them differently.

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Author Information

Barbara Schröttner

Karl-Franzens-University Graz

Department of Education

Graz

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