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Anthropology M02: Cultural Anthropology - Barbier: Home

A library research guide for students of Cultural Anthropology M02

Welcome to Prof. Vaughan's Anthropology M02 Class

Welcome to the Libguide for ethnographic research. This guide has been created to help you learn about a variety of resources useful for conducting research on various cultures or ethnic backgrounds and will provide you with tools to assist you in the following:

  • Finding books and audiovisual materials
  • Finding articles through the databases
  • Citing your sources in MLA format and APA format
  • Evaluating Internet Sources

Before starting your research, make a list of the main concepts you want to learn about and identify the “keywords” to describe these concepts. Think of synonyms and related terms. Use the tabs across the top to determine what kind of materials you are looking for.

Definition

"Ethnography, often paraphrased as "participant observation," is a mode of deriving knowledge about particular, local worlds through direct engagement with their peoples and ways of life. As a mode of inquiry, it is primarily associated with the discipline of anthropology, the comparative study of human societies and cultures that took definitive shape as a scholarly field in the early years of the twentieth century." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas.