You need to choose an ethnography. You are looking for a book length,
first hand, extensive description (or picture) of the daily way of life or cultural practice of a particular group of people
insider's account of the culture based on the author’s interactions and participant observation / field work with the group that is the subject of the ethnography
written by an anthropologist, possibly a sociologist, who has conducted their detailed study while being immersed in the particular culture, often living with the people, over a period of time, often years.
Ethnographies may be focused on traditional or contemporary cultures and are usually published by academic publishers.
Are you interested in
the Zande (in Africa), Toraja (Indonesian People), Romanies (Gypsies), Masai, Inuit (older books use the term Eskimos), Quechua Indians, Palestinian Arabs, Maya
college students, drug dealers, street children, surrogate mothers, teenage boys, ultra-Orthodox Jews, homeless persons, Muslim girls, nurses’ aides, bicycle messengers, policewomen, transgender people, criminals, soldiers, welfare recipients, middle class families, male prostitutes, young adults, gay fathers, teenage automobile drivers, soccer fans, wildfire fighters, women body builders
ethnic identitites, drinking customs, male friendship, reindeer herding, sex role, drug use, traditional farming, soccer, witchcraft, recreational vehicle living, forced migration, initiation rites, gangs, alcohol use, spirit possession, parenting, khat, virtual reality, sex customs, open source software
ethnology social life and customs
social conditions social aspects
alcohol use economic conditions
death ethnic relations
funeral customs and rites family
kinship religion
rites and ceremonies sexual behavior
medical care sex role
Sample subject heading/subdivisions combinations:
Muslim women - Canada
Rites and ceremonies - India
Xhosa (African people) - Rites and ceremonies.
Batuan (Indonesia) - Religious life and customs.
Goth culture (Subculture) - Great Britain
Hints :
Use the ? to say "I don't care what letters come after this", e.g.
relig? retrieves religion, religious, religiosity
If your term is a phrase, change "any of these" to "as a phrase"
Search examples"
nuer (nuer african peoples)
muslim* AND (undergraduate* OR college* OR university OR campus) AND student*
nuer and family and (religi* OR politic* OR economic* OR subsistence OR gender OR marriage*)
("motorcycle gang*" OR "biker gang*") and (social or cultur* or economic* or language or relig* or belief*)
Journal and magazine articles across a broad range of subject areas.
The Excel file below is a list of what appeared to be ethnographies from the information about the book available at the time they were added to the list. There may be some books on the list that are not suitable ethnographies for your assignment: if in doubt, check with your instructor.
The list is in alphabetical order by the first word in the subject heading, the fourth column, in red. T
Since the word/s you want may not be the first word, here's a quick way to search words in all the columns:
To quickly get more information about the books with titles in blue, click on the title to find a review in Choice, a reviewing source for academic librarians (but not a source appropriate for the book reviews required for your assignment).
When you find a book that looks interesting, copy the main title (the part of the title before the colon). Search the title of the book using LibrarySearch to find the call number of the book. You'll need the call number/address of the book to locate it on the Library shelves.
You can link to a brief description of the book by following the "about this book" link in the catalogue or search the title of the book in Amazon.
Check the due date of any books that are "not available". If the book you want has been signed out, put a "hold" on a book or go back to the list below and try again.