13 - El Dr. Simon Coleman

(Dr. Simon Coleman)

I thoroughly related to, and enjoyed, Dr. Coleman’s article ‘But Are They Really Christian?’ Often I am left wondering what about the phenomenon of purity balls is based in Christianity, because there are only so many so many references to female purity that the Apostle Paul makes in his letters!

Since ethnographic work is my ultimate doctoral goal, I must grapple with many of the issues that Dr. Coleman laid out in this paper. This past semester was my first foray into the field of ethnographic work (pun not intended!). Having now read not only the classics by Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, and Leach, but also having also read more contemporary ethnographic work by Taussig, Silverstein, and Basso, I am confronted with the notion that ethnographic work by its very nature is ‘othering’.

A primary driving factor behind my zeal to conduct ethnographic work amongst the sub-group of the Southern Baptist Convention that partakes of purity balls, and the purity movement at large as well, is that I would like to challenge this ethnographic tradition of ‘us-versus-them’. Having said this however, I wonder if it is even possible to do ethnographic work without this ‘othering’ mentality. It seems as if the relation between proximity/familiarity and objectivity is inversely proportionate. If an ethnographer – essentially, an observer – becomes one with the subject of observation, isn’t he or she then part of the subject and hence no longer an objective outsider? Can one truly evaluate with some modicum of objectivity the subject, if they are in fact part of the subject itself?

Furthermore, while I do agree with Dr. Coleman’s view that the ethnographer is not necessarily there to provide a ‘translation’ of an alien culture to the home audience, aren’t we all to some extent translators through our perceptions? We each perceive and process situations in a completely unique manner; these perceptions and processes are shaped heavily by our own cultural, societal, and religious engagements. To this end, everyone other than myself is an ‘other’!

On a personal note, within my own field of research, I have to consider my own position as a woman of a visible minority aiming to conduct ethnographic research about a predominantly Caucasian movement in the southern United States (not exactly a place known for its hospitality to non-Caucasian individuals). As an academic, is this a conversation that I should even be giving consideration to? In this relation of hierarchy and power, should I make an attempt to ingratiate myself into the subject of my study, or am I automatically separate based solely on my position on the ethnic and gender structures of power?

The school of structuralism as adopted by the fathers of ethnography may not stand in good stead any longer – translation and colonial imposition is no longer in fashion, after all. However, the seemingly scattered bottom-up methodology of modern apologetic ethnographic work will not make sense of the observed phenomenon outside of a string of rituals and traditions that lack meaning to the outsider! Does ‘getting off the verandah’ provide some solution to this astructural observation? And if participant engagement is the highway between imposed structuralism and detached observation, then how much of the ethnographer’s voice is included in the work?

How important is one’s unique ‘voice’ when constructing ethnography? Does a voice necessarily mean a pandering to one’s own cultural norms, or can one come through the words while still remaining true to the insider’s experience? Furthermore, does one maintain individual voices of the participants or can an ethnographer use composite characters to convey the gist of experience? What are the ethical implications behind combining the voices into one meta-narrative?

Dr. Coleman's articles were an eye opening read into issues that I have only recently begun to encounter in my career as an academic. It was heartening to know that there are others who are grappling with the same issues in the fields of ethnography and religion.