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I am graduating in May of 2022 and out of the two Inquiry classes that I have taken, I enjoyed Comm. 154I: Ethnography for Comm. Studies the most, because of its very interpersonal, interactive, and immersive nature. We were asked to pick a community that we belonged to already or that we were considering joining to do our weekly field study assignments and our final project.

 

I liked the experiential learning, which in this class was the field study assignments, because they immersed me in the community that I chose and helped me decide whether Unity Village Chapel was a group I really wanted to belong to or not. The final project was called the “Unity Village Chapel – Ethnography Showcase” and I am going to give some context and then share some of the learnings from that project. 

 

I appreciate Ethnography as a qualitative research method because of its immersive nature in a community or organization where you observe the members’ behaviors up close. According to the course description for Comm. 154I: Ethnography for Comm. Studies, Ethnography for Communication Studies is the “introduction to ethnography from a communication studies perspective, i.e. ethnographic approaches to study situated communication practices in particular cultural milieus, such as ethnography of communication, critical ethnography, digital ethnography, autoethnography, and/or other types relevant to communication studies.”

 

In studying the Ethnography of Communication, we satisfied the Communication Studies’ Department PLO#2: “Demonstrates an understanding of methods of communication, research, and analysis such as rhetorical, critical, interpretive, performative, and social scientific approaches and their ethical implications” as well as PLO#3: “Developing and applying analytical skills and ethical practices for understanding, conducting, and evaluating communication research studies.” 

As illustrated in my class project, in the “Unity Village Chapel – Ethnography Showcase”, the most important, meaningful course concept that I learned about was Norms, Rules, and Premises. According to our textbook, Exploring Culture Communication From the Inside Out, "Norms are informal "social rules" that tell us what we should and should not do in a given context. Rules are similar to Norms like they are both expressions about what should or should not happen in particular settings under particular circumstances, Like Norms, Rules guide communicative behaviors and also provide a measuring sticky which to evaluate communication, Unlike Norms, Rules are a "must" not an "ought to". Premises are defined as the communal beliefs and values that undergird people's conclusions. (The all-important reasons, the whys and the becauses)".

 

The most important thing I learned about using the Ethnography of Communication as a research method was to get permission from a subject which then starts creating trust and a safe container. If you apply the "get permission" rule to the interview, the subject will be more open and share a lot, sometimes more, than you ask and provide a great picture of the topic. Once again, getting permission to interview and write about specific topics and people was the most important thing I learned about the Ethics of doing Ethnographic Research.

 

The most useful thing to me right now is that I've learned to be more sensitive to people's feelings around certain topics. The Ethnographic Research will help me in the future. I now know to be more curious and a good listener; these traits will help me be a good person in life and will help in work as I try to capture my client's stories to message them well.

 

The other outstanding learning was about Unity Village Chapel as a cultural group. The most important thing that I learned about the Unity Chapel Community was that they are not a religious group but a spiritual one. They are open to everyone. They live what they preach which is evident through the events and groups that are created within the community. An example is Strength Builders which helps strengthen your physical self as well as your Mind and Spirit. 

 

In summary, and as represented in my “Unity Village Chapel-Ethnography Showcase” project, learning how to do field studies, conduct interviews, and the whole interaction with member subjects is hugely valuable as I am doing final projects in my Communication major for my classes this semester. For example, I will be applying it to a group assignment that was just assigned where we have to interview SJSU Seniors and Juniors on the stressors of Covid-19 and the effects on their interpersonal relationships. I have also been using the interviewing skills that I have learned as I perform my content creation and special projects roles on the SJSU Social Media Team. I have employed my interviewing skills from the Inquiry class to the Social Media Team as a whole.

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