Ethnography is defined as “A branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures. ” (Dictionary. com 2017) We’ve read two ethnographies so far that explores the culture of two different groups of people in two very different ways: “Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community” By Kathryn Linn Geurts and “Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity” By John L. Jackson. Both authors exploring each culture differently but were still able to magnificently capture the essence of each culture in one book.
In this essay I will be discussing the main point of each ethnography, exploring their similarities, as well as how each ethnography taught me something new about lived experience. In “Culture and the Senses,” Geurts explores the culture of meaning through sensory experience of the Anlo-Ewe speaking people in Southeastern Ghana. Geurts described Anlo-Ewe sensory experience through 4 main claims about sensory orders, embodiment, identity, and well-being.
She argues that: 1. “physiological evidence suggests human bodies gain sensory information in a variety of ways; 2. A Western model of five senses is a folk model; 3. An Anlo-Ewe model is different, and it privileges balance, kinesthesia, and sound; 4. The impact of this model (or approach) can be seen in four areas, each which affect the others: a. The use of Language to describe the sensorium; b. Moral values embedded in child-rearing and social development; c. An Anlo-Ewe model of personhood. ” (Geurts 2002:227). Through these main points, Geurts was able to discuss sensoriums that produces “different results of cultural tradition. Sensorium is embodiment and orientation is acquired through process of child socialization.
And Sensorium help shape notions of person; ensuring that persons differ culturally and yet appear natural. ” (Class Notes Feburary 23, 2017) While Jackson explored the embodiment of racial sincerity in one’s culture in “Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity,” he does this by moving through many different stories, personal reflection, religious excitement, economic attribution, and reflection on popular culture within Harlem around the time of his studies. He argues that finding authenticity, he must use critical practices that focuses on the sincere subject to subject position.
Harlem is believed to have its own identity, and the blacks that live their, embodies this portrait of Harlem’s cultural identity. To be from Harlem is to live the real authentic culture of an Harlemite. Jackson is trying to understand and capture the sincerity and Authenticity of these people’s lived experience. Jackson and Geurts books are similar in a sense that both ethnographies explore how the Anlo-Ewe and Harlemites are able to use their culture to navigate themselves in the world. For instance, the Anlo-Ewe people use their body to sense what is going on within their body and how it is positioned in the world.
They use few phrases to express the sensations of different pains and pleasures and it is up to their tone and context of the phrases for them to mutually understand one another on exactly which sensation their using. “Seseleame” is the most famous word used throughout the book that means many different sensations one can feel, both good and bad. For Jackson, he references Tryone, a student who is known to be a great and passionate singer. Tyrone is best known for catching the Holy Ghost when he’s really passionate about a song.
In his spiritual culture, it is acceptable to catch the holy ghost and embody the sensations that you’re feeling in your body. But when in school, he is informed that it is not acceptable catch the holy spirit. This challenges Tryone’s religious culture since he views the holy spirit as an entity that cannot be controlled. How can one deny themselves of engaging in an activity that is wildly acceptable in his culture? This leave Jackson to wonder if the holy spirit is a feeling that can be controlled, and if it’s a person’s intention of the act is really sincere and authentic.
One can believe that some people might fake it if they’ve never really caught the holy ghost before. But both examples from Geurts and Jackson exemplify how one navigate their feelings and actions in the world through their culture. I learned that my interpretation of how I feel things might be completely different from the way other cultures feel or express that feeling. Geurts often found herself in a dead end when many times her informants weren’t able to properly translate a certain word or phrase from their language to English.
For instance, the word “seselelame” Geurts explained that “it is difficult to make a direct translation into English of the term seselelame, for it refers to various kinds of sensory embodiment that do not fit neatly into Euro-American categories or words. ” (Geurts 2002: 567) She went on to explain that it can mean physical sensations that “we might call tingling in the skin” (Geurts 2002:567) but at the same time it can be “used to describe sexual arousal, heartache, or even passion. (Geurts 2002:567) Using one word alone to describe so many different feelings and sensations can give you a different perspective of the world. One has to be keenly aware of their word choices and their tone to ensure that they’re using the term appropriately in a conversation. This is often found in many different languages that words don’t translate directly from one language to the other, so we have to be very mindful of what we’re saying and the intent our phrases have from one culture to another.
People frame their perspective of the world through their culture, they frame their social cues and adaptability on how they were raised. Jackson showed us how people in Harlem frame their community through the rich culture that there. He often gives us stories about his informants expressing their ideology of their neighborhood. Bill is referenced a lot in “Real Black,” Jackson often tells us what he observed when he spends his day with him. Bill is always giving Jackson a hard time for not quitting his job and going to work with him.
Bill feels Jackson is doing a disservice to himself and he black community by working for “the man” and not teaching other blacks what he’s learned from his ivy league school. I often find myself feeling empathy for Bill and his wife who seems like they’re struggling to make ends meet through the changing times of Harlem. So it’s ironic that Jackson leads us to believe that Bill feels bad for Jackson’s ignorance on not giving back to the community the way Bill believes is the right way. Bill is so passionate about his culture that he’s willing to give up monetary stability in order to keep his community “woke.
Throughout the book, we see many other people like Bill that are passionate about their culture and refuse to compromise to America’s standard of giving back if it’s not for the cause of bettering their community. The African Americans in Harlem have developed an attitude that is engrained in their culture to fight to keep that same culture rich in it’s history alive before it gets completely gentrified. Here we see that the self is molded through one’s culture. One can know how they are represented to the world through their overall culture.
It is upon the person to embody the ideologies and perspectives they were given in their culture to navigate their lives with these gifts. Jackson and Geurts shows us how two different cultures are able to embody sensory experience and racial subjectivity to navigate throughout the word. They put us in their shoes to see what the world is like from the perspective of the Anlo-Ewe people and the Harlemites. Readers are nor aware of how different cultures view life and how that can help us in our own life.