Changes in the Practice of Ethnography

Of course, this is no longer an appropriate framework within which to consider the practice of ethnography, which is simply the creation of written texts that describe the results of ethnological or cultural anthropological research. As such, it has changed dramatically over the last two decades as anthropology has begun to shift from its roots in colonial political activity (and philosophy) during which the subject of anthropological discourse was always The Other û and as exotic and dark-skinned an Other as possible.

Anthropology has come home within the last generation for a variety of reasons, some pragmatic and others more reflective of substantial shifts in philosophy. The pragmatic changes in anthropology over the last generation have been largely brought about because the isolated, simple û and no doubt happy û natives that anthropologists traditionally studied became increasingly integrated in the world economy. It is hard to study the primitive carvers of a West African nation when they all have their MTV. Or rather, it is perfectly fascinating to study them, but an entirely new definition of the relationship between anthropologist and anthropological subject must be redefined. And with such a definition must come a change in the natu

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r means of transmission and spread of the virus is through the use of blood-contaminated needles by intravenous drug abusers. Casual contact in general is not a risk factor for infection, and blood donors are definitely not at risk of catching the disease. The virus usually remains dormant for some time in infected T cells, and it may take up to 10 years for symptoms to develop (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1999). Several strains of the AIDS virus have been isolated, and it appears to be continually changing in genetic makeup and, thus, its envelope, against which a person's immune system can make antibodies. This makes development of a vaccine that is able to raise protective antibodies to all virus strains a very difficult task. Nevertheless, dramatic progress has been made in a very short time in identifying the molecular makeup of the AIDS virus, its modes of transmission, and the mechanisms by which it produces disease. One of the fascinating possibilities for ethnographic research on AIDS would be to look at how the scientific community has been changed by it û something that has not yet been studied. The ethnographic research that has been done on AIDS so far has been to look at communities that have been affected by the diseas
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Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)