Reflections on ”Eleven som etnograf” by Karen Risager

In this article Karen Risager describes what it means to work etnographically. ”The etnographic method” is described as having three different and important phases. A phase for preparation, a phase in the field and a last phase back ”home”. The etnographer will pick a topic and investigate it to the best of his efforts by reading various kinds of litterature. Afterwards (s)he goes into the field for a sufficient time observing, participating, gathering information, taking notes and anazlyzing it all before going back to communicate everything (s)he has learned to others. All of this is very important for the personal development of the etnographer. (S)he will get deep insight in another culture and understand the social and psychological situation in it, as well as helping her reflect more on her own culture and her whole foundation for trying understand others.

As a teacher I would probably not go through this whole progress quite as thoroughly, but the etnographic way of working certainly gives the student a better understanding of both the foreign culture as well as his or her own. It is written in the official guidelines that the students should end up with an insight in the different English speaking countries, and be able to compare it to their own. I think “the etnographic method” is a great tool to get a better understanding of another culture compared to our own. However this is mostly applicable when going on a study trip, and as these are quite rare in our school time, as well as being really short, it is not a method we get to use a lot. Also Karen Risager mentions that you will have to spend quite a lot of time in the field, and as study trips are fairly short by nature it will be hard to fully get an understanding of the culture. The method can however be really useful by making the students