Ethnographic Interview Paper Assignment
Purpose:
Purpose of this assignment is to develop a comprehensive insight of another culture and its influence on an individual’s psychological process – therefore, how does a particular culture(s) influence an individual’s cognition, emotion, motivation, behavior, self-concept, etc. Exploring/challenging personal assumptions and feelings about a particular culture and its members.
Instructions:
CHOOSE A CULTURAL SCENE WITH WHICH YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR. Choose someone to interview who is quite different from you primarily in some cultural domain. As expected, this person must identify as an Asian American. This person cannot be a family member or a close friend. Tell him/her that the interview is a class project, that his/her name will be kept confidential, and that you are interested in learning about his/her experiences and thoughts about his/her cultural background. Tell your interviewee that you would like to conduct the interview in a setting that s/he finds comfortable (e.g., workplace, home, coffee shop, etc.).
BEFORE THE INTERVIEW, formulate general questions that you will ask your interviewee. Your questions should be based on two themes: 1) relevant background information such as age, gender, family, occupational, and immigrant history, and 2) specific cultural scene of interest. For example, if you are interested in the racial identity development of an Asian American college student. You might want to ask questions such as, “How do you identify yourself ethnically?” “How important is being Asian/Korean to your identity?” “Is one identity more important to you than the other? Why” “What does being Asian/Korean mean to you?” “Can you share a story or two of how your experience with racism has impacted you?” Also, write down why you chose this person and cultural scene, and your