Understanding applied ethnography – writing exercises
Read or listen to the story Climbing the wall of empathy, Seeing Floki:
Music by Coma-Media and andrey327ap from Pixabay
- Based on the story, make a mind map of all the information and details you need to make a thick description of Floki and the situation of him waking up and talking to Lea. You can supplement your work by using the illustration from the previous section “Ethnography in Social Work”, which provides an impression of the environment and context of the situation.
- Write a thick description of the situation. Describe both the positive and negative elements of the situation. Use the illustration and information in the story to include structural and contextual factors in your description.
- Based on your thick description, reflect on your ability to understand Floki’s behavior and the empathy it installs in you. Discuss if this way of writing helps you to see things that you would normally overlook or leave out of a description.
- Based on your description, reflect on what can and should be done to help Floki.
- If you work in a group, you can rewrite your thick description after the group discussion to improve your applied ethnography writing skills.