Ethnography Essay -- Ethnography

EthnographyIntroductionBeginning with the early stages of savagery to the complex civilizations in the 21st century, the requirement to compete remains an important aspect in the continual evolution of mankind. Competition withalk various licks throughout history from the bloody attempts to kill a big in order to provide nourishment, to the violent battles between two opposing sides taking place on college foot orb fields every Saturday afternoon. Another form of competition involving severe contact on a scale par with football is the sport of rugby. My personal history with the sport began in a average sized island in Polynesia. I lived and worked in New Zealand during the summer of 1999, between my sophomore and junior year. This little country hosts a number of different leagues and excels on the world level. I watched numerous matches on the television and in the parks. The first time I watched the national team (the All Blacks) was in a companionable match against Ne w Zealands biggest rival, Australia (the Wallabies). I returned to Occidental in late August with an All Blacks jersey and the idea of playing rugby once my association football season ended. Unfortunately the gods thought it would be better that I hold off on rugby for a year, so they helped me land on my upright foot in such a way that I fractured my ankle during one of my last soccer games. The next semester I studied in southern France, specifically a city called Toulouse. The Stade Toulousain is the best club team in France, and has won numerous European club championships. After watching rugby in New Zealand and France, I finally started to play rugby over the course of my senior year.When the opportunity to study a group for my ethnography in Anthropology 370... ...ile too much playfulness is a problem also. The oval ball pictured above exemplifies a sport with many opposing themes and contradictions. With a round ball like soccer, the ball bounces rather consisten tly. On the other hand, the oval-shaped rugby ball is constantly competing against opposing forces for the specific direction it will travel.Works CitedAppadurai, Arjun. Disjuncture and departure in the Global Cultural Economy. Global Culture Nationalization, Globalization, and Modernity. Ed. Mike Featherstone. London Sage, 1990. 295-319. Bourdieu, Pierre. How Can One be a Sports Fan? The Cultural Studies Reader. Routledge, London. Carruthers, Vanessa. In clear up discussions. Occidental College. 6 February 2001. Rugby. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Online. Internet. 9 April 2001. Available http//search.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=114957&sctn=1