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Ethnographic Literary Journalism Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2009-07-16 Ethnographic Literary Journalism Christel Lane Swasey Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Swasey, Christel Lane, "Ethnographic Literary Journalism" (2009). Theses and Dissertations. 1863. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1863 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. ETHNOGRAPHIC LITERARY JOURNALISM by Christel Lane Swasey A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Communications Brigham Young University August 2009 Copyright © 2009 Christel Lane Swasey All Rights Reserved BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Christel Lane Swasey This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory. _________________________________ _________________________________ Date Kevin Stoker, Chair _________________________________ _________________________________ Date Steven R. Thomsen _________________________________ _________________________________ Date Quint Randle BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate's graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Christel Lane Swasey in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library. _____________________________ ____________________________________ Date Kevin Stoker Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department ____________________________________ Steven R. Thomsen Graduate Coordinator Accepted for the College ____________________________________ Rory R. Scanlon Associate Dean College of Fine Arts and Communications ABSTRACT ETHNOGRAPHIC LITERARY JOURNALISM Christel Lane Swasey Department of Communications Master of Arts Leon Dash and Ted Conover have modeled an ethnographic approach to literary journalism. This approach combines literary journalism’s compelling narrative techniques with ethnographic “naturalist-like” (Brewer, 2000) thoroughness and trustworthiness. Rosa Lee: A Mother in Urban America, by Leon Dash, and Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, by Ted Conover, exemplify this painstaking method that skillfully uses the narrative craft, generates trustworthy data, and contributes to an academic body of knowledge as well as exposing findings to the general public. Dash, Conover, and others have demonstrated the synergy and problem-solving potential of merging anthropology with literary journalism, yet there is no typology, no common name and no set of ground rules describing this work. Identifying Dash's and Conover's methods may advance cross-pollination between anthropology and literary journalism, fields that share the role of reporting on contemporary culture. This cross-pollination serves both disciplines. Ethnography stands to increase its numbers of readers by enlisting the writing techniques of literary journalists and by publishing “more public-spirited” (Fillmore, 1987, p. 1) findings in more public venues. Literary journalism stands to be seen and applied as a credible form of qualitative science by enlisting trustworthy naturalistic methods and aiming to contribute to an academic body of knowledge. This thesis explores the promise of ethnographic naturalism in narrative form, as “scholarship for real readers” (S. Olsen, March 2, 2009, personal communication) by examining how practitioners meet rigorous naturalistic criteria for trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and how they present findings in narrative forms and public venues. This exploration draws on personal interviews with Dash and Conover and analyses of their long-form narrative research texts in the context of other scholars' outlooks. Key findings include the discovery that although Dash and Conover were not consciously using naturalistic criteria for trustworthiness, their work meets these criteria. Another key finding is that while both writers consider themselves primarily journalists, they both have read anthropology extensively. A notable finding is the fact that Dash and Conover rely on time-invested “unfettered inquiry,” (Dash, 1996) the mind-set of insatiable curiosity, caring and the liberty to apply practices of other disciplines to conduct research, free from external controls. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are extended to my thesis committee: Dr. Kevin Stoker, Dr. Steve Thomsen, and Dr. Quint Randle. Many thanks are also offered to Leon Dash, Ted Conover, Walt Harrington, Anne Fadiman, Mike Sager, Julie Hartley and Steve Olsen for their willingness to be interviewed for this project. Deep gratitude is offered to the Brigham Young University Communications Department for granting the scholarship and travel to do this research. Thanks are also given to Lori Geary and Shanna Schild for transcribing recorded interviews. Much love goes to my family for patience and support. Ethnographic Literary Journalism i TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: THE NEED FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC JOURNALISM.......................................... 1 Dash and Conover: ethnographic literary journalists .................................................................. 2 An under-researched area ............................................................................................................ 5 Pinpointing the work ................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 9 Pioneering studies ....................................................................................................................... 9 Roots and characteristics of literary journalism ........................................................................ 10 Problems in literary journalism ................................................................................................. 20 Parallel developments ............................................................................................................... 22 Roots and characteristics of ethnography .................................................................................. 25 Naturalistic ethnographic methods ............................................................................................ 28 Problems in anthropology ......................................................................................................... 38 Similarities among the fields ..................................................................................................... 41 Differences between the fields .................................................................................................. 44 A new object.............................................................................................................................. 46 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 48 An auto-ethnography ................................................................................................................. 48 Anthro-journalism ..................................................................................................................... 50 Field notes and coding sheets .................................................................................................... 51 What the anthropologists said ................................................................................................... 52 Narrowing the elements of ethnographic literary journalism .................................................... 55 Interviews .................................................................................................................................. 57 Ethnographic Literary Journalism ii Data analysis ............................................................................................................................. 61 CHAPTER 4: LEON DASH ........................................................................................................ 63 Unfettered inquiry ..................................................................................................................... 64 The father of immersion journalism .......................................................................................... 65 Research methods ...................................................................................................................... 68 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 99 CHAPTER 5: TED CONOVER ................................................................................................ 102 Conover’s multi-layered approach .........................................................................................
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