Framework Makes The Picture

5 Pages 1197 Words

Framework Makes the Picture

The way in which an author conceptualizes a concept is unique to him- self. An author’s conceptualization is his thought process, his perceptions, and his general view of the concept. Also, something that may be less thought about is the author’s idea of how his audience may prefer him to write. One very important aspect of writing an author must consider is framework.
Framework doesn’t apply solely to an entire book, a single concept or chapter, or even to a single paragraph. In Freedom in Fulani Social Life, author Paul Riesman uses various methods of framing his concepts. Riesman’s framework and conceptualization is not only unique for the entire book but also for different chapters.
In his introduction Riesman discusses two different ethnological methods. The first method he refers to as “classic ethnography,” which, as Riesman says, “seeks to record the life of a society by fitting its practices, artifacts, and beliefs into a set of rubrics (e.g., “kinship,” “religion,” “economy”) established in the traditions of the discipline” (Reisman, 1). This method simply consists of listing facts and observations in an orderly manner so that the reader may gain a more informed perspective of the concept. I perceive the classic ethnologic method to be more of a historian’s concerns with a specific culture, comprised almost entirely of fact and accompanied by very little voice of the researcher/author. The second method Riesman discusses is one he says he uses in the field and, “whose basic principle was never to lose sight of society as a whole.” (Riesman, 1). This method would involve less fact and more of the author discussing observations and conclusions based on these observations. Riesman himself states that his second part, “life as lived,” is “quite artificial” (Riesman, 1). The latter method can be perceived as digging deeper into a person or cult...