Essay On Autoethnography

Who has the right to shape a culture’s identity? Should people of a certain culture decide for themselves what they are, or do the opinions’ of outsiders determine this? Throughout history, a bit of both has occurred. Ethnography is when someone outside of a culture writes about that culture. Occasionally, someone from within a culture that has had an ethnography written about them will disagree and write an autoethnography in response, stating what they see their own culture as. The ethnographies featured in travel writing haven’t always been seen in a positive light. Specifically, travel writing and ethnographies about European colonies made during the era of colonialism especially have been seen in a negative light in more recent years. Writers like Mary Louise Pratt have written about how during this era especially, travel writers would “produce” a description of the rest of the world, tailored to European …show more content…
In other words, rather than simply report on a country, this kind of writing would fabricate a version of that country based solely on what Europeans viewed as “proper”and “normal.” This would then promote the idea that all of these “other” countries needed to be taught how to be “proper” as Europe defines proper. Kathleen Jamie’s work “Shia Girls” describes her time living in Southern Pakistan amongst both men and purdah-observing women. Jaime, a Scot, describes the people, culture and discourse of her foreign surroundings, and therefore, her essay is an ethnographic text. Though “Shia Girls” is far from being a totally fabricated description of Pakistani and Shia culture, Jamie’s opinion as an individual inevitably creeps in. Is this ethnography unbiased, and if so, does Jamie even have the right to say what Shia culture is? There may be no definite “right” answer to this question, but Jamie’s essay, while inescapably opinionated, is a good example of a report on a culture that has been made with a high level of respect and