Prior to the course I did not call myself an ethnographer. I considered my hands on experience with ethnography not equating to the trained expertise of others in the field. I no longer believe this. The more time I spent in the class, I recognized that the overview of how to conduct ethnographic research is something I am already familiar with. I am a bit surprised. I thought there was some magical secret to ethnography I would unlock with taking this class. A bit of disappointment mixed with saying, “I’m an ethnographer, cool”. 

What this class did get me curious about is how far I can stretch the concept of ethnography in my future research? Ethnography as I learned is such a diverse field that the implementation of it varies between each research study and researcher—not to say that everything is suited for ethnography…. I do see how a mixed qualitative and quantitative research study would provide such a unique perspective on the areas I want to research. That is one thing I am working toward to see in each class discussion. 

When I look back at my first reflection I see that I did meet my goals for the course because I no longer see my ethnographic foundation as shaky and I am learning about the field of ethnography. However, I also know I did not meet my personal expectations to fully invest in the course which is disappointing. I want to work toward finishing the course with my full attention to the course instead of being sidetracked by other things. I mainly want to proudly show off my work when the class ends. I think of how I will do that while also being realistic that I am finishing my master’s program. Perhaps counter to everything I said I will practice the act of being slow about it all. Con calma sin pausa, but there will probably still be a lot of breaks in between so I can enjoy the weather.