James Spradley Explained

James P. Spradley
Birth Date:1933
Occupation:professor, ethnographer, anthropologist
Nationality:American
Notableworks:Deaf Like Me, The Ethnographic Interview, Participant Observation

James P. Spradley (1933–1982) was a social scientist and a professor of anthropology at Macalester College.[1] Spradley wrote or edited 20 books on ethnography and qualitative research including The Cultural Experience: Ethnography in Complex Society (1972), Deaf Like Me (1979), The Ethnographic Interview (1979), and Participant Observation (1980).

Life and career

Spradley earned his PhD in anthropology from the University of Washington in 1967. His dissertation, which was supervised by Melville Jacobs, was entitled James Sewed: A Social, Cultural and Psychological Analysis of a Bicultural Innovator.[2]

Spradley joined the faculty at Macalester College in 1969 on the behest of the college's anthropology professor, Dave McCurdy, with whom he would later collaborate on a number of academic book projects.[3] Spradley died of leukemia in 1982.[4]

Work

Spradley was a major figure in the development of the "new ethnography" which saw every individual as a carrier of the culture rather than simply looking to the outputs of the great artists of the time.[5] Spradley argued that ethnography differed from other deductive types of social research in that the five steps of ethnographic research—selecting a problem, collecting data, analyzing data, formulating hypotheses, and writing—all happen simultaneously.[6]

Much of Spradley's work was guided by his interest in "ethnographic semantics", which sought to apply "explicitly 'scientific' analytical frameworks to the analysis of cultural phenomena". In The Ethnographic Interview, Spradley describes four types of ethnographic analysis that basically build on each other. The first type of analysis is domain analysis, which is "a search for the larger units of cultural knowledge". The other kinds of analysis are taxonomy analysis, componential analysis, and theme analysis.

Reception

Spradley's work was widely used as college texts for American Studies classes in the 1970s.

Spradley's book You Owe Yourself a Drunk (1970), in which he conducted interviews and created a "typology of the different kinds" of homeless alcoholic men,[7] has been called an exemplar of "good systemic ethnography".[8]

Select works

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Doing Ethnography at Macalester College "From the Inside Out". Anthronotes vol. 14:2. 2015-10-04. Selig. Ruth O.. Spring 1992.
  2. Spradley. James P.. 1967. James Sewid: A Social, Cultural And Psychological Analysis Of A Bicultural Innovator. ProQuest ID No. 302260577. University of Washington. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. June 19, 2023. PhD.
  3. News: Selig . Ruth O. . 1992 . Doing Ethnography at Macalester College "From the Inside Out" . 9–14 . Anthro Notes . June 19, 2023 . Smithsonian Institution.
  4. News: Halvorsen . Jon . 2005 . Anthropology Spoken Here . 16 . . June 19, 2023.
  5. Book: Maddox, Lucy . Locating American Studies: The Evolution of a Discipline . JHU Press . 1957 . 9780801860560 . 196– . 4 November 2013.
  6. Book: Spradley . James . The Ethnographic Interview . 2016 . Waveland Press . 9781478632078 . . 93–94 . 1979.
  7. Book: Elwell, Christine Marie. From Political Protest to Bureaucratic Service: The Transformation of Homeless Advocacy in the Nation's Capital and the Eclipse of Political Discourse. 4 November 2013. 2008. 9780549926450. 96–.
  8. Book: Morse, Janice M.. Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods. 4 November 2013. 1994. SAGE Publications. 9780803950436. 193–.