Open AccessThe Fifty-Year Ethnographer: A Review of Harry Wolcott's Ethnography Lessons: A Primer
Author(s) -
Denise Mifsud
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.335
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2130
Subject(s) - ethnography , subject matter , sociology , subject (documents) , field (mathematics) , literature , anthropology , art , computer science , library science , pedagogy , curriculum , mathematics , pure mathematics
“Harry Wolcott uses fifty years of experience to take the reader inside the process of constructing an ethnographic study, offering a wealth of lessons from one of the masters of the genre”. This is indeed a concise description by the publisher. The text is constructed around the author’s five major studies. Wolcott thus gives a unique contribution to the field of ethnography as he presents some critical components of ethnography in his desire to share with us readers the results of his career-long search for the essence of ethnography. The book is divided into eight chapters. I give a critical review of the book, attempting to present the subject matter to potential readers, while drawing on its strengths and weaknesses.