What Is an Ethnography?
In anthropological usage, ethnography is a genre of writing that
describes a cultural group based on in-depth observations, interviews
and participation. Ethnographies can be found in reference works,
edited volumes and journals, but the typical format is as an ethnographic monograph, which is a single book written by one person offering a holistic portrait of a single cultural group.
The word "ethnography" comes from the Greek ethnos = folk/people and graphein = writing.
NOTE: Ethnographies are a genre of writing created by anthropologists,
but you may find that nowadays the term is used in a much looser way by
other disciplines such as English or Education to mean something like
"descriptive research." Many anthropologists, too, have moved far from
the original meaning of the term. A study may be called "ethnographic"
but still not qualify as an ethnography in the classic sense.
More Information on Ethnography
More information may be found on the web by typing "define:ethnography" into Google or by checking published reference works such as:
