Makalah Cross Culture Understanding

INTRODUCTION

1. Background

Culture is the power of the mind in the form of copyright and flavor, while culture is the result of a copyright sense, initiative, and a sense of the Koentjaraningrat (1976:28). Culture is owned by every nation, and therefore the culture of every nation are mutually different. Although sometimes there are similarities as well as family and race .. As in discussion is that how can we facilitate a positive impression of the people of different cultures with us, of course we must first understand their culture so as not occurred clash culture between our culture with their culture.
We realize that in Indonesia has a lot of western culture in and it was seen by our own eyes, one example is the dress code, many Indonesian people, especially the youth who had imitated the western way of dressing, without them knowing that they are influenced culture outsiders. Therefore how can we understand first culture them and do not let us to simply accepted it.

2. Statement of problem

a. What is the meaning about ethnography?

b. What is the role of ethnography?

c. How to obtaining cultural information for the content of instruction?

d. How to obtaining cultural information for use in methodology?
3. Objective of paper

a. We are to know about ethnography

b. We are to know about the role of ethnography

DISCUSSION

1. What is Ethnography

In the most simple terms, ethnography is a method of describing a culture or situation within a culture from the ‘emic’ or natives point of view, I, e, from the point of view of the culture actor. This approach to ethnography seeks to describe a culture in its own terms. The aims of ethnographic semantics is to this cover the characteristic ways a people categorize, code and define their own experience. Frequently ethnography employs a variety of techniques, including interviews and participant observation. Ethnography is different from other observational techniques in that it does not pre-structure or precategorize what is to be observed it elicits observer participation, and it takes place in a non laboratory setting.

Ethnography is the scientific study of human social phenomena and communities, through means such as fieldwork. It is considered a branch of cultural anthropology, the branch of anthropology which focuses on the study of human societies. Some people use “ethnography” and “cultural anthropology” interchangeably, although cultural anthropology includes more research techniques than just ethnography.

Ethnography is a collection of qualitative methods used in the social sciences that focus on the close observation of social practices and interactions. These qualitative methods enable the researcher to interpret and build theories about how and why a social process occurs. They are particularly useful for elucidating the steps of processes that have not been well understood, and to create rich descriptions of people’s experiences. Qualitative research tends to be inductive and hypothesis-generating; that is, it helps the researcher make educated guesses about how or why a process happens. Quantitative research, on the other hand, tends to be deductive and hypothesis-testing; it helps the researcher determine how true such an educated guess is across a population.

People who are interested in pursuing ethnography as a career should start by studying cultural anthropology. If possible, they should take fieldwork opportunities when they arise in school, to see whether or not ethnography is something that they enjoy doing. A good ethnographer is able to calculate statistics, rapidly pick up new languages, and instantly assess a range of situations. Above all, ethnography is about observation and cataloging, and written communication skills are a strong asset for someone interested in this academic field.

a. Categorizing experience

The purpose of ethnography is to find out the way people within the target culture categorize and prioritize experience. Ethnography does not apply concepts for crosscultural comparisons, I, e “etic” concepts, before such concepts naturally emerge as part of the culture being described. For example, an ethnographer would not ask, “who is your best friend?” before the category “friends” and the idea of hierarchy among friends emerged naturally as relevant to the particular culture or situation being described. The ethnographic method aims to decrease bias by not preselecting what is observed on the basis of the observer predefined cultural categories. Of course the ethnographer, like any observer, does filter information through predefined categories to a certain extent.

b. Observer as participant

Ethnographers not only observe, but also participate. The more ethnographers get “inside the picture” the more accurately they are able to describe the way insiders feel, the competencies they acquire to behave appropriately and the way they anticipate and interpret events. I am reminded of one anthropologists ethnographic account of how one becomes a Buddhist monk. He become one ! that is he developed the competencies one needs to function as a monk, to interact with others as a monk, to anticipate evens as a monk, and to structure and experience his day as a monk.

Some criticize that the participant observer role increase subjectivity of reporting. However, to the extent that the ethnographer loses objectivity and interprets things from thenative’s point of view, we are getting an inside, emic account of culture.

Believing, that man is animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law, but an interpretive one in search of meaning.

From another perspective, education it self is a subjective, value-laden process, not with standing the frequent emphasis on objectivity.

Education is a normative enterprise, and I believe that much too much social science attempts to be value neutral in order to increase scientific objectivity. This aspiration, of course, is hopeless. Scientific work in any field is never value-neutral. Social scientists the problems they will inquire into in this selection, values are at work. Social scientists choose the method they will use in this choice values are expressed. Social scientists interpret the date they secure here too values are employed. Social scientists assign significance to their findings to do this requires one to make value judgments, to claim that science is value saturated is not to complain but rather to give scientific inquiry its due. Its negation is what is worth complaining.

While interpretation on the part of ethnographers is critical, they have an obligation to indicate when they are interpreting and why. Thorough explanation will include the experience ethnographers bring to the situation as well as the particular bahavior (s) or event (s) in the target cultural situation that lead them to that conclusion.

c. Non-laboratory setting

Ethnography does not take place in laboratory, with experimental and controls. Reporting is often in the form of a case study rather than in measurable, quantifiable data.

To be taken seriously, to be viable, and to be relevant, social science must dare to study the real problems of men and society, must use the real community, the market place, the arena of polities and power as its laboratories, and must confront and seek to understand the dynamics of social action and social change.

Education researchers and social scientists have often confused what is knowable, learnable, and describable from what is quantifiable and measurable. As pointed out in chapter 2, too much emphasis maybe placed on what verifiable, to the detriment of cultural understanding. The insistence upon measurable procedures may result in a narrow range of facts and interpretations. In contrast, ethnographers provide in depth case studies of particular cultural situation, full of rich description. Their accounts are more similar to literary descriptions than to scientific reports.

2. Obtaining cultural information for the content of instruction

Ethnography is a useful method to obtain cultural information about the target culture for incorporation into the content of instruction. Often the cultural content of foreign language, second language, and bilingual programs reflects a limited, if not inaccurate account of the target culture. For example, teaching aspects of the target culture in these programs often reflect non-native accounts of “the family, foods, leisure”. The accounts are often based on observable aspects of behavior and customs, or on categories pre-set by the researcher/writer. As we learned in chapters 3 and 5, many cross cultural problems may not be attributable to observable differences, but rather to the way we categorize, interpret and evaluate events.

We do not have many, if any, good ethnographies of the cultures corresponding to the languages most commonly taught in American schools and universities. For example, we do not have many adequate accounts of the French family or the Mexican family to incorporate into French, Spanish or bilingual courses. More importantly, we do not know emic categories and definitions through which French or Mexican people interpret the world, individually, or as a group. We have more ethnographies of exotic cultures than of the cultures corresponding to the most commonly taught languages. By doing ethnographies of the cultures relevant to local societies and providing authentic accounts, ethnography can contribute an essential first step in culture teaching namely, what to each.

3. Obtaining cultural information for use in methodology

Ethnography is also a valuable tool for obtaining cultural information on how to teach, e, g, how to organize instruction so to implement cultural diversity and transmit cultural goals. For example, chapter 3 discussed how different cultures have different preferred modes of presenting and responding to information. It was suggested that effective methodologies in bilingual, second language and foreign language programs build a bridge between the home and school cultures. Elsewhere I have referred to this idea as a “cultural merger” in the methodology, which must also take place if a student from one culture is to effectively understand a second language and culture.

The United states Civil Rights commission report, 1973, disclosed that Mexican-American students received unequal treatment in schooling. Similarly, in the case of Lau versus Nichols, the United States supreme Court decided that Lau, a Chinese student, was denied equality of educational opportunity because education was not responsive to his cultural and linguistic needs. As a result, schools have a mandate to be “culturally responsive” . before education in multicultural societies can be equitable and culturally responsive, before second and foreign language classes can implement cultural mergers in methodology, we need to obtain information regarding how teaching and learning experiences are organized and interpreted in the cultures represented in our society and schools, how do student and teacher interact with each other, and what event are anticipated in particular cultural situation?

In providing culturally responsive education, knowledge of these competencies is critical. Bilingual and second language instruction will be more effective if educators know how to effectively communicate with culturally diverse learners, how to recognize different expressions of attention or desire to respond, how to implement different means of conveying praise or criticism, and how to anticipate and interpret culturally different behaviors.

Several ethnographies aimed at identifying such competencies have recently emerged. One study addressed questions such as the following :

1. In bilingual first grade classroom, are there different sets of cultural rules of social appropriateness or etiquette in communication which are analytically distinguishable as Latino and Anglo interactional styles, respectively.

2. Do children and teachers who very in knowledge of language structure also very in knowledge of communicative function, in the uses of communicative behavior, verbal and non verbal, for social purposes in classroom interaction?

There is already some evidence which suggest that teachers who speak the same language English but have diverse cultural background, Latino, Anglo, Native American, have developed different ways of praising and sanctioning student.

Latino teacher , example praise

During a reading lesson, the teacher is making his/her rounds in the classroom while the students are busily engaged in some reading exercise task. As the teacher approaches Juan’s desk, Juan, a Spanish dominant bilingual, tells the teachers that he has finished the task. Reviewing the paper, the teacher gently smiles while simultaneously touching Juan’s shoulder and slightly nodding his/her head in appositive manner.

Anglo teacher, example, “public praise”

In an analogous event (reading) as the Latino above, Johnny informs the teacher that he has finished the assigned task. Reviewing the paper, the teacher states in a somewhat loud and enthusiastic manner. Very good, Johnny, nice work.

Cultural knowledge, such as the above Latino pattern of praising, often goes unnoticed in traditional observational instruments such as the Flanders system of classroom interaction analysis. Categories in the latter tend to be pre-set according to a traditionally Anglo form of reinforcement, namely public, verbal questioning, reprimanding and praise. Ethnographic research identifies cultural information which can contribute to culturally responsive teaching strategies and cultural mergers between the learners home culture and target culture of study. However, such information can only be obtained through in-depth, well-developed ethnographic studies which provide readers with extensive background data regarding characteristics of the particular people and situation (s) investigated. Care must be taken to observations that lack sufficient background date

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Triandis, H., et al. (eds.) (1980). Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology, vol. iii.