http://rolsi.uiowa.edu/editorialboard/images/Philipsen_G.jpgB. Ethnography of Communication: Our key method for today’s readings is Ethnography of Communication. This method stems largely from the work of Gerry Philipsen, based on the prior work by Dell Hymes. Hymes, a sociologist, began looking at how groups used communication specifically. Philipsen got his doctorate under Hymes and began incorporating his approach full-scale, first to look specifically at speech (the “ethnography of speaking”), but later applied also to silence and use of nonverbal communication, hence the broader name, the Ethnography of Communication. Hymes has actually developed a theory surrounding this method, called Speech Codes Theory. Here is another link by a class where students summarize and do projects specifically using this theory.
ETHNOGRAPHY
Ethnography is alternately both a research methodology and a way of writing up research. Some say that the methodology itself is observation, with varying roles of participation by the observer (from strict observer to participant observation, in which the observer is also participating in the activities). Frequently the observation will be followed up with interviews, in which the researcher verifies conclusions drawn from observation. In this sense, the research is observation, and the write-up, or report of the research, is an ethnography. However, ethnography is not simply observing—it might also include document analysis, interviews of people in the social setting, and other methods, such as conversation analysis. For our purposes, ethnography will be considered to be the detailed observation of a society--a holistic analysis and description of a society. Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) state:
For us ethnography (or participant observation, a cognate term) is simply one social research method, albeit a somewhat useful one, drawing as it does on a wide range of sources of information. The ethnographer participates, overtly or covertly, in people's daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions; in fact collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues with which he or she is concerned. (p. 2)
Purpose: Ethnography has its roots in anthropology, in the early work of Branislow Malinowski (Conquergood, 1991). It is used frequently in both anthropology and sociology today. More recent discussion of ethnography frequently looks to the work of Clifford Geertz, Dell Hymes, and others. Hecht (class notes) in his discussion of interpretive theory (see Tools for Research II) notes that much of interpretive theory is based on Geertz' Cultural Approach, in which "the researcher seeks to described the surface level artifacts and events, and then figure out the deeper levels of meaning by 'peeling' back the layers of meaning" (referring to Geertz' notion of "onion peeling"). Hammersley and Atkinson (1983) take the reader through the steps involved in doing ethnographic research and writing up the report (see also van Maanen, Wolcott, 1990).
Ethnography of Communication: Several scholars have borrowed from concepts of ethnography to look at communication specifically. Thus, Philipsen (1989) bases his work on the assumption of communicative meaning: "In general, interlocutors establish, through their actions and interpretations of actions, a sense of shared meaning, such that interlocutors orient to each other and each other's acts as if they expressed a common sense" (p. 258). He goes on to say that interlocutors (or, if we can use Conquergood's metaphor, social actors), coordinate their actions; communicative meanings are "created and the particular patterns of conduct that are enacted vary across communities" (p. 259). These communities of communicative resources are cultures. Thus, he defines culture as a "historically transmitted system of symbols, meanings, premises, routines, and rules" (p. 259).
Philipsen’s Propositions of Speech Codes Theory (1989)
For our purposes, we nearly need a summary of the theory as a whole—specifically that communicative action is specific to each group. That is, each group creates a set of resources for the people within that group for when, how, and to whom to communicate. People “coordinate” their meaning, but that meaning is specific to a culture. (Organizational researchers, such as Putnam, Pacanowski, and O’Donnell-Trujillo apply this principle even to the level of an organizational culture!)
Many ethnographers of communication use Dell Hymes' descriptive framework to research and present their findings. This framework (Hymes, 1972), is intended to be used to look at any naturally occurring speech to discover the rules for speaking (modes of speaking, topics, message forms within particular settings and activities). The key elements [SPEAKING] are:
Scene: physical setting where talk occurs, cultural definition of the scene
Participants: the actors in the scene and their role relationships
http://www.gitsiegirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/lost_handshake.jpgEnds: the purpose(s), outcomes, goals of talk
Act Sequence: the relationship between what is said and how it is said
Key: the tone, manner, or spirit in which the talk [or silence] occurs
Instrumentalities: particular channel, language, dialect speech variety of the talk
Norms: normative aspect of interaction; normative aspect of the interpretation of talk
Genre: the cultural category of talk (e.g., insults, compliments, apologies)
Examples of Ethnography of Communication
Typically, a single study will not walk through each of these, but will use the ones that are most relevant. For example, if we wanted to look at shaking hands, we could start at the “genre”—shaking hands as a sign of showing friendship (e.g., flipping someone off might be an insult or a gesture of camaraderie). We could then find out who shakes hands in a culture (participants), the scene (only upon first meeting, or do you always shake people’s hands when you see them again. Hmmm. ‘Hi Mom! Glad to be home (hand shake).” “Hey, dude, whassup” (handshake). . . No, I don’t think so.
We could determine why people shake hands, the “key” or tone (for example, in the flipping off example, one might flip a stranger (participant) off in traffic or at a grocery story (scene), following either a traffic goof-up or someone saying something rude to begin with (act sequence). Here the key would be tense, uncomfortable, angry. But if you are at a game and your buddy flips you off, the tone could be “joking,” “light,” etc. The instrumentalities are the channel. Thus, if we take a larger “genre” of camaraderie behaviors, these could be verbal or nonverbal. The norms dictate the expected rules for how to shake hands (not a wimpy shake, not too firm, not too long, and don’t milk the other person’s fingers!).
Carbaugh (1994) goes on to list three areas of interest to the student of cultural communication:
1. Cultural Models of Personhood: What does it mean to be a (good) Osage Indian, a good Anglo American, a good ISU Greek member?
2. Communication: How is communication accomplished? What are the logic patterns, forms of talk (e.g., metaphor, word usages, analogies, argument styles), meanings, and rules.
3. Emotional Expression: As an example of the above, what are the "display rules" of when and how emotion should be displayed.
Note that these three intersect with one another. That is, emotional expression has certain meanings. In some cultures, to be a "real man" means not showing certain emotions, or to be a real "x" might mean showing emotions in certain ways. It is within this framework that our readings for today fit. The two readings from the MN&F reader are both from students who got their doctorates under Dr. Philipsen and are now professors at different universities.