Qualitative research as a separate scholarly trend encompasses the paradigm of human experiences in order to create and apply efficient clinical practice frameworks. According to the researchers, qualitative data analysis catalyzes an in-depth understanding of human needs in the context of health care and interaction with professionals (Lützén, 2017). The three major branches of qualitative research comprise grounded theory, phenomenological, and ethnographic approaches. In terms of the present paper, phenomenological and ethnographic qualitative studies will be reviewed and compared.
Ethnographic research is an approach to data collection and analysis that aims at evaluating and categorizing human experiences through the lens of the participants’ cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Phenomenological studies, for their part, place major emphasis on the unique experiences of individuals. The similarity between the concepts concerns the fact that both approaches tend not to perceive physical and medical phenomena in isolation from human’s social context. However, ethnographic research may be both synchronic and diachronic by its nature due to the researchers’ ability to investigate historical patterns of cultural pathologies and average health indicators. Phenomenological research focuses primarily on discovering ones of epidemiological data (Jamali, 2018). Moreover, while ethnographic research aims at defining the collective experiences of the community, phenomenology sheds light on diverse experiences within a community united by culture or ethnic origin.
An example of an ethnographic study would be the research that aims at investigating the attitudes to vaccination among Alaska Natives and American Indians. In order to obtain tangible study outcomes, it would be imperative to collect background socio-cultural data that may be crucial in terms of the community’s decision-making patterns. On the other hand, when investigating people’s personal experiences with COVID-19 vaccination, researchers do not have to tie the data to a specific background, focusing on the unique narratives of the respondents instead. Considering the approaches, it should be concluded that despite the existing differences, both phenomenological and ethnographic studies present an exceptional value for the development of evidence-based clinical practice.
The article represents a distinct persuasion of the author in the enforcement of urban science education by means of more ethnographic and political implications. However, it needs more critical evaluation to state the competence of the research in fitting the real state of things. The methodology of such a kind presupposes the incorporation of cultures, beliefs, and attitudes of children studying at school. However, the researcher brings in her own mite by making survey on the example of homeless children. In this respect solely political approach should be derived from two challenges that are argued in the article.
The first is that there should be rational and correct distribution of teaching and learning resources taking into account the massive character of students learning in one class. The second challenge is that students’ personal preferences as for gender, cultural, ethnical, and religious background provide a scope of methods to be implemented. Both suggestions embody interpretivist-subjective and positivist-objective perspectives. Such a controversial view on the approaches taken in the research complies with the changeability of the social life at the moment.
Critical ethnography with a set of surveys taken helps to convey the gist of the research by keeping up to the idea of great difference among students in their individual prerogatives. This is why the criticism of the article starts at the point where urban schooling is identified to be a source for the initial innermost misunderstanding having been inflicted to subtle conscientiousness of different students. The second reason to state the significance of the research is its practical use which comes out to be based through a sort of questionnaire. Its objectiveness gives more reasons for a researcher as well as an observer to state the importance of implementing an appropriate practice for any among contemporary teachers.
Here one should outline genuinely critical perspective in which the research follows the implementation of main features as of its trustworthiness and cutting edge character. Evidences collected in the article promote a weighed design of how a teacher should perceive the problems going around the lowest strata of students. Thus, for the researcher it was a challenge to cope with urban poverty and make some connections between this social phenomenon and science education.
The outcomes of the research state that cultural, class, and gender differences in the society on the example of Well Springs make students silenced in doing science. The controls in the research are surveyed through the author’s subjective engagement with the reality of children’s living. Here, the analysis touches upon understanding of partiality and relativity of truth as such. On the other hand, the research further encounters a discoverable and rather verifiable character of truth about the case. It is grounded on the particular scientific and statistical approaches taken by the researcher.
Taking a look at the US census for the previous years a researcher motivates an observer to infer that by arranging the proper science education the American society could get out of the “pit” of poverty among children living and studying in America. Critical ethnography which is especially amplified in the study puts observers into the picture of how it is more applicable to involve children from problematic urban settings into the process of science education. Three components of critical ethnography, methods, methodology, and epistemology, are perplexed to signify the state-of-the-art approach in generating knowledge sufficiently.
Hence, as the researcher claims “one’s views of knowledge generation is connected to one’s understanding of the research process” (Barton, 2001, p. 905). Hence, politicizing such an aspect of social life as ethnography would contribute into the area of educational growth throughout urban settings. Science involvement comprises the research prospects and evaluation of student’s self. Thereupon, the researcher should apply to the peculiarities of critical points as of assumptions on education. Barton (2001) outlines critical ethnography as closely related to research as participatory pedagogy.
The researcher provides a scope of evidences which are going around the significance of critical ethnography at large. This is supported by a set of reasons to prove the applicability of ethnographic approach. First, it is vital to admit that primordially education serves o please political interventions inside the society due to setting cultural and traditional values. Second, owing to liberal direction of critical ethnography, it grasps the idea of the struggle for human rights.
In this respect the research should be understood as praxis. Third, ramifications of the research are based on the mutual responsibility on the part of a researcher as well as of researched. The premise of agency is the basis for making such an incorporation of the aforementioned requirement. Fourth, critical ethnography serves as the means to detect an oppressed group (community) of people and provide a genuine research on historical, cultural, and epistemological reasons which led to the state of oppression. Thus, the fourth point draws parallels with the second point.
The research includes facts and assumptions mainly focused on the epistemological features for gaining knowledge effectively. Its main advantages are in its practicality which spreads over the current situation with teaching in urban settings. Releasing power of the ethnographic research to facilitate the quality of teaching and learning is a preliminary objective to be reached out. However, the researcher omitted the empirical implementation of techniques and approaches for stating the causes of disproportionate distribution of knowledge in urban schools.
On the other hand, along with the US census on poverty and stratification of American families it would be an asset to incorporate comparative analysis between the character of critical ethnography in urban setting and in rural areas. There should be an explicit difference to put observers on realizing the significance of critical ethnography for stimulating science education.
It is no wonder the researcher fully addresses to the epistemological approach in finding out the best arguments for critical ethnography as the means for stimulating science education among urban schools. In this respect the interpretivist-subjective assumption is theoretically correct for embracing the gist of the research. The idea is that knowledge is observed to be viable while getting through cultural and social framework. The researcher has chosen the way of finding out the way to explain difficulties and problematic situation in urban schooling. A scope of personal insights has been provided to prove the validity of the initial hypothesis.
Ethnomethodology and ethnography are perplexed in the research into a vortex of rationally weighed elements for encompassing the internal and external validity of the study. The methods which characterize the research in its interpretivist-subjective coloring are pursuant to participatory activities and participatory pedagogy, in particular. Data collected are performed in the form of interviews. Thus, it is more interpreted logically by means of the researcher’s personal assumptions correlated with some philosophical rumination.
The complexity of the setting under analysis provides another challenge for the researcher, namely being engaged with the socially uncovered layers of the society. To say more, the construct of the research relies expressly on the social implications. Hence, the paradigm of the study shows solely social way of conducting the research practically and applying it theoretically.
Denshire, S., 2006, ‘Towards and auto-ethnography of an occupational therapist’s published body of work’, Proceedings of the ACSPRI 2006 Social Science Methodology Conference, December, pp. 1–15.
The study is peculiar for its loose connection to the field of occupational therapy. It is no surprise that this area of professional training along with its responsibilities and main directions gets most of people confused. However, the researcher implements the definition of occupational therapy as more concerned with teaching and anthropology than with therapeutic practice and trends (Denshire, 2006).
The researcher’s intent gets through the variable of ethnographical peculiarities in the workplace. In this respect the problematic point being addressed in the research touches upon auto-ethnography. The significance of applying to some special kind of corpus is seen by the author to be predominant throughout occupational practice in the multinational workspace. Moreover, the position of the researcher is felt in interpretivist-subjective as well as in critical perspectives.
The analysis of the article proves the idea of social and cultural variables impacting the occupational aspects of therapeutic implementation. Thereupon, the criticism of the research encompasses features of ontological and epistemological positions. Providing discourse of the main idea of boarding new corpus in language, the researcher evokes for making writing practices more relied on the ethnographical peculiarities. Realizing occupational therapy as a key human-related profession, the researcher is quite inclined to support arts-based auto-ethnographic inquiry to be loosely concerned with counter-historical practice.
To be honest, this way of discussing the problem lacks particular connection to the economical approach. The researcher is, of course involved into the vortex of changes in the world and seeks to turn it around by means of the findings in the article. In this respect the main intentions of the researcher are aimed at a more reflexive and rich in ethics practical involvement. On the other hand, the problematic corresponds to the features applied to human status, authority, and ethnical identification. Thus, the main point to be addressed in the study is to encompass the influence of auto-ethnography on a reading of occupational therapist’s published body of work critically.
The outcomes of the study fall into the claims that really the implications of autobiographical features in the body of work on occupational therapy impacts conscientiousness of both practitioners and ordinary observers. The figure of the researcher is embedded into the scope of personal feelings and suggestions about the case. Social inequalities are posed to be significant for the researcher, as a critical observer of the real life. Thereupon, the researcher states that auto-ethnography is a means to illustrate life concepts and challenges on the example of personal experience and feelings. In addition, the research showed that connecting professional reality with cultural and personal juxtaposition helps to emphasize the reliability of positive feedbacks on the part of the target audience.
Entitling the emphasized story boards as “Always a writer”, “Being a therapist” and “Becoming academic,” the researcher missed to mention relevant socio-economic features important to validate the reliability of the article at large. This claim comprises the overall research. It also provides a notion of systematic change within the target audience by making vocabulary used in the aforementioned literature more or less applicable for reading.
In fact, it corresponds to the academically correct justification as per researcher’s interpretivist-subjective perspective. Thus, the practical use of auto-ethnographical approach in occupational therapist’s published body of work has been proved to fit into the whole problem.
The above listed interpretation of story boards spreads over the use of “everyday language, metaphor, analogy, heightened ambiguity” (Denshire, 2006, p. 8). On the other hand, arts-based inquiry showcased its practical implementation in terms of writing. Moreover, the analysis of the article highlights that after writing for some publications on occupational therapy an author admits personal careers, academic recognition in bright lights as a precious contribution to the whole professional field.
That constitutes the critical position adored by the researcher. Conversely, it provides claims for the applicability of the article to be used by contemporary specialists in public services. The identification of the main point also touches upon “publication imperatives,” as Denshire (2006, p. 10) remarks. Based on solely personal experience and survey, the study evidenced the validity of the research by dint of different examples of eminent researchers in the same sphere of work.
As a matter of fact, the researcher underlines the gist of composing a survey on current inability of masses to get along well due to some social attributes. Further still, the study infers viable facts and evidences on the importance of embodying personal ramifications in the story board, so that to shake the conscientiousness of a reader. Thus, doing so, a writer wins a huge scope of appreciations. It is practically useful.
However, the main weakness of the research is that its structure determines solely researcher’s speculation in the gist of the study. It lacks appropriate statistical or comparative data to support the study by contrasting its efficiency as opposed to the previous findings. In turn it characterizes the study as being customized for the purpose of the researcher’s self-accentuation of personal vision on teaching and cognitive prospects in occupational therapy.
Nevertheless, the more varied outlook is better to be taken at the future implications of the findings stated in the article. Hence, the researcher has not taken into account the overall connections of the study to the reality of current practice in occupational therapy. On the other hand, it would be applicable to extend it by a bit more assumptions on therapeutic use of linguistic prospects suggested above.
The theoretical approach applicable in terms of the analyzed article comprises the ideas of post-structuralist perspective. In fact, the scope of features that are represented in the study touches upon the subjectivity of the reality in its terms. On the other hand, the educational value of the study crosses the boundaries of typical approaches in the variety of materials proposed for learning but not applying to the target audience.
Nonetheless, the reality of occupational therapy as a cross-relational discipline can be perceived and further acquired by means of discourse. In this respect language is considered to be the main source for improving and accumulating knowledge on a large scale of practical implementation. Knowledge which can be extracted out of the research is discursive at large. It complements each assumption of the researcher to provide logical and empirical grounding for what is, in fact, achieved.
The figure of the researcher is also felt in terms of reducing power relations to the optimal level. It helps the audience understand the strategically important relevance of the study toward perception of truth indicated throughout the article. Several attempts to signify the role of language in genuinely human-related professional domain state the constructive unity of the researcher and the workspace as having juxtaposition by discourse.
Thereupon, the necessity of truth can be felt through partial and perspective features of discourse as such. The researcher also has chosen the method of discursive analysis of materials and texts by other researchers, so that to amplify the usability of the study.
Reference list
Barton, A., 2001, ‘Science education in urban settings: seeking new ways of praxis through critical ethnography’, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 38, No. 8, pp. 899–917.
Denshire, S., 2006, ‘Towards and auto-ethnography of an occupational therapist’s published body of work’, Proceedings of the ACSPRI 2006 Social Science Methodology Conference, pp. 1–15.
Just like any other tradition with symbols and the rituals of worship, the Mayan people used the fire, water, air and the earth. Fire was the most superior in their worship and this was so because all the others according to the Maya people had their own weakness. As far as water was concerned, it was believed that it was used for cleansing, thus it was full of impurities and the air was always polluted. In the Mayan rituals, they believed that the fire was a communication media between them and God. The rituals involving the fire were perceived as source of strength and balance (Molesky 4).
According to The Mayan culture, the human body was viewed as a combination of the body and the souls. The body of a human is made of flesh and blood. The human nature has a group of soul that they believe resides in the heart of a human. The part of the human they referred to as the soul was also viewed to be in three aspects which were the “bird” of our heart. This was the life holding part of the Mayan people.
This small bird in each human holds life and when the bird leaves the body, the body falls sick and eventually dies. The second form of the soul was the ch’ulel, it was also believed to be dwelling in the hearts of people and also played an important part in the living of the body, in addition, this soul played part in the shaping of the human character, it was responsible for memory, feelings and emotions. The third nature of soul was the ch’ulel in Ch’iibal mountain, the Maya people believed that for every human born, there is a pair of soul created for him; one to reside in his heart while the other resides in the mountain (Pitarch 25).
The human body can be able to communicate to the environment and to other bodies. This gives the body the ability to pass the condition of the inner body to the outer environment. The Mayan people believed that the blood could speak. This means that the blood could communicate to the inner and the outer environment of the body. The Mayan people considered the blood as an animate substance with the ability in some individuals of sending signals or even speaking. Such sensations in the body as tingling, jumping twitching or twigging in the muscles or the blood were viewed to be ways of conveying message about the past, the prospect of patients or the divinatory clients. When administering treatment, the shamans could receive information from the patient’s body by feeling the pulse of the patient at different pulse points.
The point of blood speaking has not yet received a systematic description but the ethnographic literature of the highland Guatemala has frequently mentioned it. Physical; gender, time and direction, alignment of the body are viewed symbolically, when the priest visits the four mountains. The visit to the mountain on the east was associated with the ability to divine the future, a visit to the west was associated with the ancestors, a visit to the south was associated with male special ceremony. The right side was viewed as the male side and finally the priest’s visit to the north, left side; it was viewed as a female special ceremony. This day was symbolically recommended for marriage proposals (Tedlock 140).
Pertaining to rituals, treatment and culture, all societies has the responsibility of developing procedures to prevent and treat illnesses. The procedures revolve around the ingredient of cultural structure which is sensitive to social values (Rubel 3). Some studies done on the folk illnesses have created an assumption that they are psychiatric in nature hence ignoring the contribution of organic nature even when the symptoms and signs are clearly organic. This has made it hard for the creation of cultural response to the illnesses because of the inability to separate diseases from the cultural response to them. Study on the ritual response to illnesses have shown failure of the traditional healing to report the after treatment conditions of the patient, thus it is thought that the traditional treatment was effective but presents no supporting information (Rubel 6).
Works Cited
Molesky-Poz. “Ceremony: The Fire Speaks” In Contemporary Maya Spirituality: The Ancient Ways are Not Lost. Texas: University of Texas Press. 2006. Print.
Pitarch, Pedro.“The Ethnography of the Soul” In The Jaguar and the Priest: An Ethnography of Tzeltal Souls. Texas: University of Texas Press. 2010. Print
Rubel, Arthur, O’Nell, Carl and Collado-Ardón Rolando“Introduction to Susto”, “The Samples”, “Descriptions of Susto” In Susto: A Folk Illness. Texas: University of Texas Press.1991. Print.
Tedlock, Barbara. “The Blood Speaks” In Time and the Highland Maya. Texas: University of Texas Press. 1992. Print.
Maya people constitute of a diverse range of people from the Native American and live in the southern Mexico and the northern Central America. Even though these people have varied ethnic backgrounds and embrace diverse traditions, cultures and historical identities, they share a certain common cultural and linguistic heritage. The Maya people initially lived in southern Mexico and Guatemala, but their ancestors abandoned this land later and relocated in Panama after they experienced colonial oppression, scholarly attention and engagement. Arturo, (13), says “Mayas have been enslaved, oppressed and discriminated against.”
The civilization of these people faced strong influences from the people in the non-Maya cultures which include the Olmecs of Mexico and the Izapa cultures of people who lived in the Pacific coast. However, certain cultural practices were deeply rooted in the people such that even after the interaction with other people with varied cultural beliefs, they still remained. For instance, the knowledge of the four cosmological directions and colors associated with them used in rituals and ceremonies such as the curing ceremony which were not predictable. Tortillas, (84), say “these rituals of affliction are not life-crisis rituals that are performed for all in the course of their lifecycles. The situations which trigger them are not predictable…”.
The famous scandals regarding the misrepresentation of Maya people
Some of the famous scandals regarding the misrepresentation of the Maya people include being undermined. The knowledge and information that they produced and shared with the government, some of which ought to have assisted it in the operation of governing the country was often considered obscure and was not implemented. Information from these people, which was more applicable in some situations, was taken to be marginal as compared to the plenty of information that was provided by the merchants, missionaries and administrators. Professional anthropologists were nominated and others provided their services as experts for free concerning social life of the dominated people. However, their expertise was never deemed central to the process of empowerment.
The Maya people’s development of art and writing was greatly influenced by the art and iconography of Izapa community which had the Olmec legacy. David Friedel argued that the culture of Izapa along with that of Kaminaljuyu influenced the culture of the Mesoamericans to a great extent and gives evidence of the early development of the hieroglyphics and its writings that reached the lowlands. This demonstrates the development of the Maya culture in different geographic regions.
Certain religious beliefs that belonged to the Maya people were dishonored, some of which include the use of the cross and a special kind of tree that was used while performing certain rituals and ceremonies. These people were forced to believe, adopt and assimilate the other people’s way of life. These include the beliefs and practices, art and the writing skills. The people who interacted with the Maya people did not accept their way of life and viewed it as wrong and therefore took all means possible to force these cultural believes and practices out. However, the Maya people on the other hand, strongly believed and held their culture to an extent that controversies resulted.
Details of the scandal(s)
The scandals regarding the misrepresentation of the Maya people have some details. The Maya people lost their identity following the efforts of the scientific historians who used different mechanisms to translate the culture of the Maya people. The Mesoamericans also lost the historical flow of their life and also their heritage.
The late period displayed a uniformity of culture in the material objects made between the Maya people and the other cultures. The fact that there was uniformity in terms of the objects made is an evidence of the scandal regarding the misrepresentation of this community. It shows that these people interacted and with time, they acquired the cultural practices of their neighbors that were at the immediate exposure and who they interacted with in their everyday activities.
The involved
Social scientists such as the anthropologists and ethnographers were involved in creating the famous scandals that regard the misrepresentation of the Maya people as they failed to make the way of life and culture of the Maya people to become believable, acceptable and worthy of consideration among the other communities that were interacting with them. The two groups of people were at the central point and had the opportunity to or not to distribute information concerning the Maya people. The ethnographers idealized the differences in culture between the Maya people and the immediate neighbors and as a result, this increased the contrast to undesirable comparisons among the people. The culture difference was the major cause of the scandals that happened.
The government was involved in contributing to the scandals that regarded the misrepresentation of the Maya people. This is because, even though the Maya people had quality knowledge and information which it confronted the government with, it failed to implement it. On the centrally, the government treated these people as inferior by the fact that it accepted other services which involved information from merchants, missionaries and administrators. In addition to this, it nominated professional anthropologists to provide these services as experts.
How these scandals become controversies
These scandals became controversies when the Maya people displayed their resistance to assimilation into the national societies of Mexico and Guatemala, the warfare and the state of terrorism that happened against them and the neighboring communities in the early 1980s. Language was also an issue that brought about the controversies. Hastrup, (28), say “I believe that there are serious limitations on local words and writings as sources of genuine anthropological understanding”.
This created the anthropologists’ attention on the economic inequalities and political injustices of the country that surpassed the racist and cultural dimensions of the Maya people. Rituals for instance, were considered ironic. Marcus and Fischer, (54), say “American public rituals have been described as increasingly ironic and this seems to be an especially modern condition”.
The Maya people had strong beliefs which bared much of the symbolic applications. For instance, the cross had a strong meaning to them. In addition, certain trees such as the Ceiba tree were regarded as the tree of life by the Maya people. After interaction, other communities had a different perception of the tree and tried to eliminate the meaning of the tree to the Maya people and this brought about to the controversies as they could not accept.
The Maya people fought against the colonialist and capitalist exploitation that was happening by then. These people were not represented well as other people from the immediate neighborhood were represented and thus, they were against this exploitation. They stressed to get equal representation and thus in the process, controversies resulted.
Voices and perspectives that were included and those that were excluded and the reasons for this
Some of the voices and perspectives that were included are visual objects, theaters and texts that were from the ethnographers and anthropologists. These voices were aimed at being rooted into some enduring and depersonalized culture of the Maya people and those at the immediate neighborhood. This was aimed at presenting the readers with an evocative impression rather than rendering off how others experience and view the world they are in and that substantiates the cultural difference. Other perspectives such as antipathies and affiliations between the people involved were used, but this worsened the situation of misunderstanding of culture and misrepresentation.
Even though these voices and perspectives were included by the ethnographers and the anthropologists to distribute the information on cultural diversity and understanding of the people, they excluded other voices and perspectives that ought to have made the information clear to the people targeted than how it was at that time. These include socialization and political involvement.
The people were given few chances to engage themselves in politics. In addition to this, they lacked the chance to interact and socialize with a certain class of people in an effort of ensuring that they remain uninformed of their rights to retain their cultural beliefs and practices. They were suppressed whenever they try to come up. Chakravorty, (67), say “we are unable to touch [power] in any point of its application without finding ourselves confronted by this diffuse mass, so that we are necessarily led…”.
The role of social scientist like historians and anthropologists in creating the controversies
The social scientist like historians and anthropologists played a major role in creating the controversies that arose out of the misrepresentation of the Maya as a people since they were at the center of informing the world of the true nature of their culture and way of life as the little information that is available in the world needed their expert opinion to be understood. For instance, in as far as the original Mesoamerican languages are concerned, the first anthropologists who were often tied to Spanish missionaries sought to identify and interpret them in relation to their Spanish background and this has been identified as the root cause of the current inefficiencies on the understanding of the Mesoamerican compositions and distribution of families in the Maya region.
According to Justeson, and Broadwell, (368), the prehistoric Aztec and Mixtec spelling which was critical in the pictographic representation of the Maya religion and geography in regard to their gods, people and places, lost their meaning as the early historians and anthropologists employed translation mechanisms that made the languages ambiguous which later made the information on the true nature of the Mesoamerican life shallow. Though modern historians and anthropologists are trying to rectify this it may not be enough as the erosion of information that currently persists as well as the injustices that were perpetrated against the Maya as a people, cannot be salvaged or rectified. Justeson, and Broadwell, (361), say “the scientific knowledge produced by anthropologists has been appropriated by the dominant elite and used in school textbooks in Guatemala as the ‘truth about the Maya”.
The misrepresentation of the Maya could also be blamed on the methods used by the early historians and anthropologists used. This means that it may have been unavoidable as the capacity of historians and anthropologists was not enough to allow them to fully exploit the richness of the Mesoamerican history to the satisfaction of modern scholars, historians and anthropologists who are now identifying the inefficiencies since they are now exposed to more efficient tools of studying the Mesoamerican history (Tomas, 87).
The issue of language has been identified as the critical in the controversies surrounding the misrepresentation of the Maya as Strum, (125) says, “The relation between languages and ethnicity may have been closer in the past, before Spanish started to replace native languages in large portions of native groups.” This suggests that the use of Spanish by historians and anthropologists is inefficient in providing the true picture of the Mesoamerican ethnicities since it is totally disconnected from them.
How the controversy might have been avoided
The controversies have been identified to revolve around the misrepresentation of the Mesoamerican ethnicities, culture and way of life. This could have been avoided if the understanding of the Maya as a people could have been left to be tacked by the Maya themselves. This is because they were in a position to give a more accurate account of their ancestors’ ways of life than any other person since they have the capacity to understand the deeper meaning of the evidence presented of their own cultures.
The fact that outsiders were allowed to define the modern understanding of the Maya, exposes the current history to biases related with misrepresentation of facts due to insufficient understanding especially of the more complex aspects of their culture such as language and religion. This is perhaps the reason as to why Pan-mayanism is mainly based on the self-representation of the Maya so as to define themselves rather than having to be defined by people who are not even remotely related to them (Wantanabe, 16). Wantanabe, (16) says that, “the current revitalization of Maya culture reflects also the continental mobilization of indigenous people seeking self determination on the American continent.
It is quite perplexing to identify that most of the individuals that exposed the Maya people to the injustices they suffered in the last five hundred years were the same people who were the main players in defining them while they were not even remotely related to them. This is probably the reason as to why the Maya identity has gone through construction, dismantling and reconstruction many times in the pre-classic, classic, post-classic, historic and modern Maya periods.
This has exposed them to discrimination as they have been split up by those who do not understand their lives into states that have very little to do with their ethnicity and culture. They have also suffered as their ethnicity was eroded to the advantage of foreign forces that sought to take advantage of the weakness that results after the erosion the identity of societies (Strum, 118). The resolution to redefine the Maya and their culture should be left to the Maya people and the mandate to interprete history should squarely rest on the Maya people.
It has been identified that autonomy is key in the reconstruction of the Maya since outside interference will only fuel aggression as it has been evident throughout history. It has been identified that there were massive massacres of the Maya people any time they tried to reconstruct themselves since the foreigners who invaded their territories, who were the major perpetrators of them injustices suffered by the Maya, felt that they would lose the rich resources that they enjoyed from their domination of the Maya people. This cannot be ignored as the spirit of pan-mayanism continues to grow since there are those whom will again feel threatened by it and will again seek to demoralize the Maya by extending new forms of injustices against them as was the case with state exclusions in the 1930s in Venezuela.
Lessons learnt from the “crisis of representation”
The crisis of representation as it has been highlighted by the case of the Maya as a people cannot be assumed to be limited to the Mesoamerican history only. There are many other cultures that suffer the same or had previously suffered the same. The consequences of the misrepresentation of ancient ethnicity have been identified to be quite tragic as was the case of the Maya especially where resources that are considered of value are at the center of the conflict that is evidenced between the oppressors and the oppressed.
Though it has been identified that the historians and anthropologists were perhaps the ones mandated with the observance as well as the interpretation of historical evidence that is often used to define culture and were, therefore, responsible for the crisis of representation that is currently evidenced, there are still other forces that contributed heavily to the erosion of the Mayan history as well as the shooting down of any efforts of reconstruction of the Maya cultures.
It is important therefore, to view history without the biases that come with vested interests of the people who give an account of historical facts since this often leads to distortion. The individuals who defined Mayan history have overtime victimized the Maya people since they knew that any self-representation ideas that may be adopted may lead to equality as the Maya demanded for the observance of their rights, which could then mean that they would lose their domination and right to exploit the vast resources that lie in Mayan territories (Montejo, 57).
Who gets to define the history of indigenous communities
In regard to who gets to speak or define a culture, the task should squarely rest with individuals who are directly related to that particular culture or incases where a culture may be extinct, individuals with backgrounds related to that culture may be in a position to give an accurate account of the same. The contribution of external historians and anthropologists should, however, not be ignored as they often play an important role in the explanation of ancient cultures though from a global perspective as their background and studies often dictate that they have prior knowledge of other cultures, but not any new cultures that have not been discovered yet.
The common biases that are often related to interests in the self-definition of other cultures should be avoided. This is because they are the main reasons behind the inclusion of external cultures in the histories of a particular culture which then ends up distorting the whole historical account of a certain indigenous community.
Conclusion
The ethnographic interpretation of Mesoamerica provides great insight into the deficiencies that lie in the forms of interpretation of history especially where foreigners are involved. This has over the centuries led to the erosion of the Mesoamerican identity due to the influence of outside forces. The quest of Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya to redefine their culture as they know it as well as their quest to promote they self-representation has seen numerous injustices extended to them by their neighbors and other foreigners who view this as an uncertainty on their control of Mayan resources. According to Strum, (123), who says, “after burning the Maya codices in the Yucatan in 1560, bishop Diego de Landa decided to re-write the Maya history he was so instrumental in destroying”. The bias of those representing a culture erodes historical accounts and distorts the true nature of historical facts.
Work Cited
Arturo, Arias. “Rigoberta Menchú’s History within the Guatemalan Context” The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy Arturo Aria, Ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Pp. 3-28. 2001. Print.
Chakravorty, Gayatri, Spivak. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Nelson, Cary and Lawrence Grossberg, eds. Pp. 52- 124. 1988. Print.
Hastrup, Kirsten. “The Language Paradox” A Passage to Anthropology: Between Experience and Theory. New York: Routledge. Pp. 26-44. 1995. Print.
Justeson, John and Broadwell, George. “Language and Languages in Mesoamerica” The Legacy of Mesoamerica. Robert Carmack, Janine Gasco, and Gary Gossen, Eds. New Jersey:Prentice Hall. Pp. 352-378. 1996. Print.
Marcus, George and Fischer, Michael. “Conveying Other Cultural Experience” Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences. Pp. 45-76. 1986. Print.
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To conclude about the specific features of the culture manifested in a particular situation, it is necessary to observe the interactions of the participants during their daily activities. The ethnographic study was conducted during the usual staff meeting in one of the Kmart department stores. During the meeting, much attention was paid to the particular features of communication between the meeting participants in order to understand the aspects of the environment, characteristics of individuals, their interactions, and the presented culture.
The staff meeting was held at the department manager’s office. The meeting was scheduled as the regular and daily morning meeting conducted by a group supervisor for the store’s employees. The participants of the staff meeting were the group supervisor, a white male aged 35-40 years, the department manager, a white male aged 41-45 years, and four male employees among whom one was the Asian. The implementation of new instructions for the staff was discussed during the observed meeting. The meeting was not started on time because the department manager and supervisor came to the office later than the group of employees. The provided details are important to make inferences about the staff’s interactions and culture (Daniel, 2011, p. 54; Neuman, 2011, p. 442).
While focusing on the culture expressed in the specific participants’ interactions, it is important to concentrate on such details as the use of the slang and argot while discussing the new instructions and daily routines. Thus, such linguistic, cultural artifacts as the printed instructions were written in formal English, but they were discussed using the argot. It is possible to conclude that the observed group builds the interactions and communication using the language determined by their working environment (Neuman, 2011, p. 424).
Referring to the communication within the group, it is important to focus on the fact that although the four male employees were waiting for the supervisor and the department manager for fifteen minutes, they do not demonstrate discontent. Furthermore, the employees demonstrated respect for the supervisor and the department manager during the meeting while supporting the propositions and discussing the instructions openly in an enthusiastic tone (Martin, 2009, p. 112; Neuman, 2011, p. 446).
The supervisor and the department managers take the leading positions in the group, but they position themselves as equal to the staff. The supervisor and the department managers were sitting in front of the group, the eye contact was supported by all the group members. The staff members were speaking only when the leaders were silent or asked questions. The loud voice was not used to accentuate the important aspects. That is why it is possible to conclude that there are no obvious conflicts within the group, the participants developed a supportive culture based on the desire to achieve the same goal and work in a positive environment.
Discussing the culture manifested in the particular situation of the staff meeting, it is important to note that all the participants share the same working culture because of the similar visions of the department’s development. There are no observed tensions related to the aspect of the race, although one member of the group is the Asian. All the participants are males working as a team and sharing the same culture while accepting the lading positions of the supervisor and the manager.
The provided inferences are valuable to understand the described environment, the observed individuals, and the nature of interactions because the situation of the absence of negations during the meeting supports the idea that all the participants share the same culture and accept and follow their social roles while using the same language and having the same understanding of the concepts and goals.
References
Daniel, B. (2011). Handbook of Research on Methods and Techniques for Studying Virtual Communities: Paradigms and Phenomena. USA: Idea Group Inc. Web.
Martin, D. (2009). Language Disabilities in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity. USA: Multilingual Matters. Web.
Neuman, W. (2011). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Web.
Analysis of notional definition of enclaves is regarded as the important aspect of the regional business analysis. Ethnographic description of the region is helpful for assessing the actual business background of the Good Luck Sum in San Francisco. The ethnographic analysis will be added with a demographic review of the region in order to identify whether the business success is stipulated by the ethnographic background of the restaurants, or the population that is regarded as the target audience of the commercial belt.
Discussion
Clement Restaurant is selected for the analysis, as it is regarded as the best Dim Sum restaurant in the neighborhood. Business analysis of this place is rather contradictory, as the services offered do not correspond with the high-quality service standards. Hence, credit cards are not accepted, there is no parking for guests, there is no reservation opportunity, the terrace is absent, there is no waiter service, and the delivery service is not offered. Regardless of the name “Good Luck Sum Restaurant”, this may be regarded as a moderate café. Nevertheless, the popularity of this place is immense. The clientele of this restaurant is business personnel, students, and people who have leisure time. Actually, this place is intended for the accelerated life tempo; hence, it is impossible to regard this place as something comfortable for quiet lunch. Chinese or broken English is generally heard among the serving personnel, and this is the key reason why waiters are not offered.
As for the demographic origin of the neighborhood, it should be stated that the district is mainly business-occupied, as this is the administrative center of the city, and Clement Street itself is known as the shopping district of San Francisco. Though, the income level of the target audience is below average. Hence, the service is pretty cheap, as the average order ranges between $ 5 and $ 10. In general, this is intended for tourists who are on their shop tours, so the material level of these people allows them to spend money easily.
The place is not regarded as a residential community or travel site, however, the local population values this place highly enough among other places with original Chinese food. People who live there rarely choose such places for having leisure time, however, the place is rather popular for friendly dates, business lunches, short snacks, etc. Actually, this is explained by the atmosphere of the place, as regardless of the clientele turnover, the place looks accurate and cozy. The noises of the overcrowded streets are not heard, though, the musical background needs essential improvement as it is not paid sufficient attention. As for the matters of residential analysis, the place can be compared with other Asian cafes and places, however, Good Luck Sum is one of the first that were opened in this street.
Actually, it is hard to evaluate the commercial belt development considering the only instance, however, the regarded place may be regarded as the business development pattern of other places within the regarded district.
Ethnographic Description
Considering the fact that the neighborhood of the restaurant is mainly working, the personnel of the surrounding business organizations prefers visiting this restaurant for lunches only. The clientele during lunchtime is mainly Americans, Chinese citizens who work in the business organizations located nearby, and, sometimes, immigrants who are working in nearby shops. Teens do not visit this district on the weekdays, while the weekends are not the popular time for visiting the district, as it is overcrowded with shop visitors. (Hartman and Carnochan, 301)
In general, the success of the restaurant, and other establishments in Clement Street may be explained by the uniqueness of the development history of this commercial belt. It differs essentially from the history of Chinatown and Stockton Street, as Clement Street was mainly populated by those who were not searching for a better life, but by those who were ready to create it by themselves. These are the successors of Gold Rush followers and destiny seekers. Hence, those who did not succeed in finding gold decided to earn the gold by offering other services.
Actually, in accordance with the statistical census, up to 55.5% of Clement Street’s population are Whites, while Asians are 37.8 %. This misbalance does not explain the popularity of Chinese and other Asian restaurants, however, this place is regarded historically Asian from the perspective of commercial belt development. (State & County QuickFacts) Actually, this is explained by the necessity to pay attention to the specifications of Asian business development, and the business environment that features Clement Street.
Most evidently, that Clement Street and the commercial belt of San Francisco is one of the rare places, the atmosphere of which is created by people. The ethnographic background of this place defines the particularity of the business environment development, and the importance of studying this background may be explained by defining the key differences in the economic and social development of this region, comparing it with Chinatown, Stockton Street (Wu, 186)
Works Cited
Hartman, Chester, and Sarah Carnochan. The city for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002.
“State & County QuickFacts”. U.S. Census Bureau. San Francisco County, California Web.
Wu, Judy Tzu-Chun. “Chinese San Francisco: A Trans-Pacific Community.” Journal of Social History 36.1 (2002): 186