{"id":2379,"date":"2014-09-12T01:17:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T01:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2379"},"modified":"2014-09-12T01:17:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T01:17:11","slug":"visual-ethnography-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/visual-ethnography-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Visual Ethnography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before reading Pink\u2019s book, Doing<\/em> Visual Ethnography<\/em>, it helped me to understand first what ethnography is about. Knowing that it is the systematic study of people and cultures helped to provide me with a better context in order to understand the concepts that Pink covered. There are entire fields of study given towards understanding social and cultural behavior, however many people outside of these fields lack the tools or techniques to adequately research new cultures. Yet, almost every professional or student needs basic skills in this area in order to better understand and connect with other people that are different than themselves. When ethnographers produce photographs or video, \u201cthe experience of producing and discussing them, become part of their ethnographic knowledge.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

This made me think about a recent trip that I took to Italy. Prior to that trip, my knowledge of the Italy was based on what I had seen in media. Yet, going there myself opened up my eyes to a different culture than what I had previously envisioned. Throughout my trip, I captured photographs of everyday life. When I look at those photos today, I can remember and feel everything about my experience. They evoke memories that engage my senses and help me to connect back to that place that I had visited. Because I took the photographs and can remember my experience, the visual reminder is very effective. However, for my family that didn\u2019t go with me on the trip \u2013 the pictures cannot stand on their own. The visual account that I made of my trip looks very similar to other pictures that people find in media. It is my approach towards capturing my experience, and through using the visual images in conjunction with other sensory queues that best paint the true picture to those I want to share my experience with.<\/p>\n

Ethnography is more than taking pictures. Visual ethnography \u201cpays particular attention to visual aspects of culture. Similarly, they cannot be used independently of other methods; neither a purely visual ethnography nor an exclusively visual approach to culture can exist.\u201d[2]<\/a> Coming back from Italy, I was able to bring pizza from Federico\u2019s and pastries from a small town that we visited. When I shared the food with family, I told stories and showed them pictures. Thus, they could get to know the personalities of the people and feel more connected to them through what I was sharing. Their senses were engaged.<\/p>\n

One thing that I noticed on my visit to Italy is the strong sense of family and dedication of the people to their communities and loved ones. One afternoon, we hiked a very long way up a hill to an abandoned, ancient castle. At the base of the path, there was a shrine where people could come and say mass. The location of the shrine struck me as significant\u2026it was off the beaten path and located in the midst of narrow alleys of houses. It took us a very long time to hike to this castle, and when we got to the top there wasn\u2019t another person to be found. Yet, half way up this path there was a beautiful chapel. Inside, someone had lovingly maintained the altar candles, which were lit and fresh flowers placed on display. The only way to this place was by foot, up a very steep and weathered path. I took several pictures of the site; as I was astounded at the beauty, yet quiet abandonment of the place. As we made our way back down the hill to the town, we noticed a lady making her way up the path. She was very young, and dressed professionally. Her pace was very fast, as if she was on a mission. It was then that I realized she was going to light a candle outside of the chapel. She had not been the first, as there was evidence that others have done the same. I began to question why she chose such a place. While I never received all of my answers, my visual story speaks about the spirit of the people in that little Italian town. The pictures also helped me to later see things that I had overlooked on my visit. For example, why would someone allow graffiti to remain on the building near the shrine? Not only is this defacing something considered holy, but also it is on the side of someone\u2019s home. In my own culture, this would not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\"One\"\"Two\"\"Three\"\"Four\"\"Five\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Pink states \u201cviewers and audiences of ethnographic images are also interpreters of text, and by acknowledging their agency we can understand better how ethnographic knowledge is received.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 If I had just displayed the pictures in this post without the written story, the interpreter may have an entirely different understanding of the place I was attempting to describe. Further, if I had displayed them in a different order or intermixed with other photos, then the reader would gain yet another perspective. Pink emphasized that understanding the reader of the images, and the way that they will perceive them, is a critical step in the process of visual ethnography. A person must keep an accurate visual account, in addition to other facts and written text, in order to more effectively research.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Pink, Sarah (2012-06-30). Doing Visual Ethnography (Kindle Location 437). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Pink, Sarah (2012-06-30). Doing Visual Ethnography (Kindle Locations 445-447). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Pink, Sarah (2012-06-30). Doing Visual Ethnography (Kindle Locations 2763-2764). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before reading Pink\u2019s book, Doing Visual Ethnography, it helped me to understand first what ethnography is about. Knowing that it is the systematic study of people and cultures helped to provide me with a better context in order to understand the concepts that Pink covered. There are entire fields of study given towards understanding social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[484,273],"class_list":["post-2379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dawnel-volzke","tag-pink-ve","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2386,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions\/2386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}