Qualitative Research: An Introduction to Methods and Designs

What Does Ethnographic Writing Look Like?

The first generation of ethnographers wrote in a literary style termed ethnographic realism. Derived from natural science writing, ethnographic realism is “a mode of writing that seeks to represent the reality of a whole world or form of life” (Marcus & Cushman, 1982, p. 29). According to George Marcus and Dick Cushman, ethnographic realism is marked by (1) an all-encompassing description of another culture; (2) an all-seeing yet distant narrator; (3) composite rather than specific individuals; (4) references to fieldwork only to establish the actual presence of the ethnographer; (5) a focus on everyday practices; (6) a rigid assertion that the emic perspective is represented; (7) sweeping statements ...