The New Ethnography and the Study of Religion
One of the most recently developed methods in anthropological science has been labeled "The New Ethnography." This approach looks on culture as a cognitive organization of material phenomena, as a way of knowing and ordering reality. The task of the researcher is to unearth and understand...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[1974]
|
In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 1974, Volume: 13, Issue: 2, Pages: 145-159 |
Further subjects: | B
Ethnography
B Cultural Studies B Linguistic anthropology B Religious rituals B Cognition B Ethnoscience B Anthropology of religion |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | One of the most recently developed methods in anthropological science has been labeled "The New Ethnography." This approach looks on culture as a cognitive organization of material phenomena, as a way of knowing and ordering reality. The task of the researcher is to unearth and understand the logical organizing principles underlying human behavior. This he does by elicting from his informants the questions they formulate about the world around them as well as the answers they give to them. This method has not been employed in the study of religions on a large scale. The few applications have been encouraging because they have brought into focus the religious experience of a particular people. They also show that greater objectivity and accuracy in the analyses of values, beliefs and ideals can be achieved and thus increase the understanding of other peoples' religious life. The new ethnography can supply us with useful guidelines for the improvement and development of the academic study of religion. It also suggests that "empathy" training for scholars in the field might be pursued with advantage. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1384376 |