Oh Mr. Kahn

Oh Mr. Seth Kahn. Having read this essay for the second time, I can say that different lessons were learned. First, the content of the essay was much more definite and concrete—I had a better understanding. As A.J. explained, the ethics of ethnographic writing and the responsibilities of the writer are paramount. In total, it’s the writer’s responsibility to represent all perspectives equally. Mr. Kahn learned, “…a hard lesson about seeing situations from the perspectives of all participants; while my paper represented the students’ frustrations at length, it didn’t account for the professor’s nearly well enough.”

Along with his anecdotal lessons, I noted some of the “moves” Kahn uses in his writing. The "Rule of 3" was used a couple times. The “move” I noticed was his use of repetition. He uses the phrase “when it works well” multiple times. On page 176, in the middle of the second paragraph, “That is, ethnographic writing can, when it works well, do more than produce interesting papers” and in the following paragraph he uses it again, “One big lesson you should learn is that ethnographic writing, when it works well, does not…” I think Kahn uses this phrase to stress the important, volatile nature of ethnographic writing.

To my dismay, ethnographic writing requires the writer to be cautious and tip-toe around subjects yet when it works well can be very effective.