I have been observing a martial arts class in Aikido for my ethnography. There are usually only four to six students in a class and there is hardly any talking so I spend most of my time observing their actions. The instructor of the class never gives any formal verbal or written instruction to the class so I am planning on writing a claim about different learning/teaching styles. I am not sure exactly what my claim will be yet, but it will have something to do with learning by doing and by observation and if the style of teaching is effective compared to other styles. I have found some sources on the general background and history of Aikido that will help me to understand what I have been observing so far and help make my analysis more complete. I want to find more sources on different teaching and learning styles that could help focus my claim more. I also still need to do one more session of field notes, which will give me a chance to do an interview and get a better understanding of the culture of the club.
Question: I am worried about the fact that there isn't much verbal communication at my site. Do you think I can still write an effective ethnography if a lot of my information comes from research instead of observation?
I don't think the lack of verbal communication is going to be a problem. I think you have a great idea with the learning through different methods. Didn't you mention in class that there was a beginners group? If you could talk to them and the advanced group you could probably figure out how they moved from verbal to non verbal. See if there is a pattern to the class, do they always do the same sequence of movements? I hope this helps!
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ReplyDeleteHow about looking for papers on Aikido practice directly and see what the authors say about the teaching style? I think it is probably a special type of learning (like Jason mentioned people did not talk in Taichi class before). Maybe reading someone else's opinion would give you new ideas to interpret your field notes. Also, I agree with Monica.
ReplyDeleteFor the research, it depends. If it is information research, that is fine. You may find lots of similarities between what they say about Aikido learning and what you observed. Nonetheless, I think it may be better if you come up with a claim mainly based on the observation (it is fine if you combine a little bit of information you find in literature, and develop yours atop of it). But just don't let those ideas affect you too much. This is just my opinion. Hope it helps.
I think you can go ask the people question. such as why they come to this class and why make them keep studying it.
ReplyDeletesince they don't talk much in the class. you can talk with them to know more they are thinking. Communicate with people who in the site is part of our assignment I guess.
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