Written Communication Jan 1987

Writing Ethnographic Narratives

LINDA BRODKEY

Abstract

This essay examines narrative choices in experimental (interpretive) and traditional (analytical) ethnographies. The material covered includes probability in quantitative and qualitative research; ethnographic narratives as ways of knowing and telling about the world; perspective as a consequence of both narrative stance and narrative voice; and the economics of producing interpretations and analyses in academic prose. Underlying the argument is the assumption that decisions ethnographers make about what to tell and how to tell it are influenced by to whom they plan to tell it and under what circumstances. Hence the ethnographer's narrative dilemma glosses over the epistomological crisis that authorship raises for the social sciences, namely, whether the researcher or the research method is telling the story.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1987-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088387004001002
Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research multilingual writers voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (13)

  1. Bryson (2012)
    The Literacy Myth in the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives
    Computers and Composition
  2. DETWEILER et al. (1999)
    Defining Occupations
    Written Communication
  3. BLYLER (1996)
    Narrative and Research in Professional Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. HENRY et al. (1995)
    Workplace Ghostwriting
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. BLYLER (1995)
    Pedagogy and Social Action
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 13 →
  1. PRIOR (1994)
    Response, Revision, Disciplinarity
    Written Communication
  2. JOURNET (1993)
    Interdisciplinary Discourse and “Boundary Rhetoric”
    Written Communication
  3. CINTRON (1993)
    Wearing a Pith Helmet at a Sly Angle:
    Written Communication
  4. Thralls et al. (1993)
    The social perspective and pedagogy in technical communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. BLYLER (1993)
    Theory and Curriculum
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Blyler (1992)
    Narration and knowledge in direct solicitations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. LAY (1991)
    Feminist Theory and the Redefinition of Technical Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  8. JOURNET (1990)
    Forms of Discourse and the Sciences of the Mind
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 20 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1525/aa.1982.84.4.02a00030
     ↗
  2. 10.1177/0098303983012001002
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  3. 10.1080/08351818109370552
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  4. Chatman, S.
    Story and discourse: Narrative structure in fiction and film
     ↗
  5. Chomsky, N.
    Aspects of the theory of syntax
     ↗
  6. 10.2307/358259
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  7. Culler, J.
    The pursuit of signs: Semiotics, literature, deconstruction
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  8. 10.2307/356602
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  9. 10.2307/356600
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  10. Foucault, M.
    Language, counter-memory, practice: Selected interviews by Michel Foucault
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  11. 10.1037/0003-066X.40.3.266
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  12. 10.1086/494044
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  13. 10.1146/annurev.an.11.100182.000325
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  14. 10.1086/448243
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  15. 10.1086/448324
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  16. Rorty, R.
    Consequences of pragmatism: (Essays: 1972-1980)
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  17. Rosaldo, R.
    Ilongot headhunting, 1883-1974: A study in society and history
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  18. 10.1086/448186
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  20. Toulmin, S. E.
    The uses of argument
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CrossRef global citation count: 32 View in citation network →

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