Talk:Salvage ethnography

Fake topic?
I find this article very suspicious. I do not know where (if indeed if) Boas or Lowie ever said they were doing "salvage ethnology." Slrubenstein  |  Talk 18:31, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I have read this article twice and cannot find the definition of "Salvage ethnography" anywhere in it. --Seduisant (talk) 19:05, 9 August 2010 (UTC)
 * My hope is to go through this article and hopefully add in and flush out some of the information on this topic. I think that it would be beneficial to add some information regarding the specific contributors to this concept that are just listed as of right now Ryskimustard12 (talk) 01:33, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

There is no definition of the term offered here. The extended quote by Prichard, while clearly related, is not contextualized and doesn't add to a functional understanding of the topic/term. Elsewhere I have seen the phrase "salvage ethnography" attributed to James Clifford, yet there's no mention of him here at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.89.10.150 (talk) 17:00, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I agree & all based on a 11 page article according to the one and only reference. 74.5.20.113 (talk) 23:10, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

I found a definition and added it to the article. It seems like a real topic.Bhny (talk) 18:30, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

"Attempt"
"Salvage ethnography is attempting to record the habits, customs, stories and ceremonies of cultures threatened by displacement or modernization." vs. "recording" The source cited states, "...salvage ethnography is an explicit attempt to document..." Photos, video, audio recordings, text, etc. might record customs, rituals, etc. whether or not they were intended to do so. It is the attempt to record that defines ethnography, not the recording. A letter to a friend about a trip to (wherever) might discuss habits, customs, rituals, the weather, a horrible layover in LGA, etc. It records what you saw, what happened to you, the rubbery chicken served on your flight, the misunderstanding you had with the cab driver, etc. It is to ethnographic research what knowing which way the wind is blowing is to meteorology. Poorly measuring and recording atmospheric processes and making bad weather predictions can be meteorology. Incorrectly recording that Americans worship the flag as their god can be part of an ethnography. - Sum mer PhD  (talk) 05:19, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: History of Anthropology
— Assignment last updated by Humniski (talk) 01:25, 30 January 2023 (UTC)