Precis of Moss Article by Susan

Moss, Beverly. "Ethnography and Composition: Studying Language at Home."
Composition In Four Keys: Inquiring into the Field. Wiley, Mark, Gleason, Barbara, and Phelps, Louise Weatherbee, Eds. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1996. (388-397).

In her text, "Ethnography and Composition: Studying Language at Home," Beverly Moss explores the methodologies, goals, and difficulties of ethnography. By defining ehtnography, the three methods of ethnographic work, and the procedures to follow when conducting this type of work, Moss introduces the work and standards that lead to successful cultural narratives. The issues of access to, and acceptance from the community an ethnographer wishes to study are key to successful ethnographic studies. Moss weighs the challenges and benefits of conducting ethnographic work in a community in which the ethnographer has membership. Through the examples Moss provides, the reader gains insight into the field of ethnography, its inherent ethical implications, and the important role it plays in the area of cultural and literary studies.

This article is valuable for the novice ethnographer. Of particular importance is the understanding that successful ethnographers must be able to discern whether the information that appears in their narrative (based on their field work) is from their direct observations, or if it is based on their own interpretations. While the ethnographer typically has a focus in mind before they venture out into the community, I found it helpful to understand that this initial focus or perspective is ultimately shaped by the data that is collected.

Another point I took from this article is the importance of avoiding disruption to the community in order to gain an accurate perspective of the community. However, I see this as one possible flaw to Moss’s article. On the one hand Moss tells us that we should "interfere as little as possible with the daily routines in the community" (390). But in the same paragraph she quotes Holy who posits that it is the active partipation of a researcher that allows said researcher to experience a community; and that observation alone should not serve as the only method of collecting data (390).

As a student observer conducting fieldwork in the communities of school classrooms, we observe and interact with students and teachers. Our mere presence in the classroom is a disruption. If we choose to observe different classrooms for our 4-5 hours of observation, we are disrupting the students and teachers in 5 different classes. Since our appearance in the classroom is disruptive, how much more disruptive is our interaction with students?

To adequately reflect the culture of a community in relation to issues of literacy, we must be able to spend an adequate amount of time studying the community. Unless an ethnographer spends a significant amount of time emersed in a community, it is not possible to achieve the ultimate goal of ethnographers. Putting into words an honest and accurate description of a community so that someone who doesn’t belong to the community would be able to understand it in the same terms as a native would, means that the ethnographer must become a part of the community. I am going to take this insight with me as I compose my paper that will be based upon my time-limited observation of the community I chose for my literacy study for this class. I will also employ the method of triangulation that Moss refers to in her article. With demographic information, school report cards, and follow-up interviews with the teacher, I hope to provide an accurate and sensitive interpretation of the data I collect as it applies to literacy in the community of Ms. G’s 7th grade Language Arts class.