We’ve been into this topic a few times before, but this might be the longest list of good ethnographies. CultureMatters-blogger Lisa Wynn not only lists her own favorite books but also several ethnographies that are particularily popular with students.
She writes that she only can think of a small handful of ethnographies that have affected her in the way that a good novel can. This is her list:
– Evans-Pritchard: Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic;
– Lila Abu-Lughod: Writing Women’s Worlds;
– Elizabeth Warnock Fernea: Guests of the Sheikh (not precisely an ethnography, more a memoir);
– Paul Willis: Learning to Labor;
– Philippe Bourgois: In Search of Respect;
– Amitav Ghosh: In an Antique Land;
– Joao Biehl: Vita;
– Levi-Strauss: Tristes Tropiques;
– Pierre Clastres: Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians.
She also reflects on some of her favorite examples of ethnographic fiction.
>> read the whole post on Culture Matters
UPDATE: For more suggestions and comments see the post on the blog Entertaining Research: Amitav Ghosh among most compelling ethnographies
SEE ALSO:
The Secret of Good Ethnographies – Engaging Anthropology Part III
Alex Golubs list on popular ethnographies
Good anthropological writing: “Nuclear Borderlands” and “Global Body Shopping”
Why is anthropological writing so boring? New issue of Anthropology Matters