Example Of Ethnography Essay

Ethnography is defined as a scientific description of people and their culture. Fortis choice to title his ethnography, Kuna Arts and Shamanism, because a lot of the artifacts discussed in his ethnography for the Kuna people can be considered forms of art that are used for shaman practice. An example of art that the Kuna people practice is the nuchukana, which is also referred as nuchu. The nuchukana are can only be made by males as traditional sacred practice of the Kuna culture and these artifacts can range in shape, size and style. Art is defined as an expression of human creativity that produces apparition for its emotional power. Nuchu statutes are seen as protectors from evil and helpers of the Kuna people. “She told me the story of each one and what type of wood they were carved from. She said that with them in the house she felt secure. They protect all her family by keeping away dead people souls and demons.” (Fortis 2012: 67) This woman that Fortis was interviewing is expressing her emotional connection to the nuchu as western would express their own emotion connection to say a da Vinci panting. …show more content…
Commonly western art is seen as paintings or sculptures that are displayed for the public. However, these art pieces hold no religious connection as the nuchu do. These pieces of art do not have spirits inside painting and are not used by a religious man to cure someone of an illness. Even in western religions there are no artifacts that hold the same qualities as the nuchu because of their unique spiritual connection to nature. The nuchu are made with trees, trees in their culture are highly respected and praised in the Kuna culture. There is not any western religious art that follow the same guidelines are the nuchu do because nature is not considered sacred space. In many western religions the sacred space is in a temple or