All my favorite characters were journalists. When I think about the kind of journalist I want to be, I think of Dr. Ruth Behar. Dr. Behar was an anthropologist who practiced ethnographic research - research where the researcher lives among the studied population and observes them as a participant-observer. Dr. Behar asked why ethnographers were supposed to keep themselves separate. She argued that we should follow our passions and document where our lives intersected with our subjects. Quantitive research generates numbers - it fills spreadsheets and databases - and this is what we need to form our theories and our applications. But it’s qualitative research that lets us connect our work to stories. Ethnography allows us to take theory and wrap it into he emotions that make other people care about things.

An ethnographic observations of Rupa’s Mall in Eldoret, Kenya, shows us that things can be both strange and familiar at the same time. This observation, originally submitted as an assignment for a Cultural Anthropology course, showcases the principles of observation and applies sociological and anthropological principles.

I’ve been married twice in my life; the first time was to another American in a courthouse ceremony in Virginia, and the second (final) time to a Kenyan in Kenya. The two processes were entirely different and worthy of documenting here. Note that in both instances, it is a civil marriage that is discussed and not the greater cultural traditions of religious ceremonies or tribal unions.