Chapter 7 Reflection Question

After reading chapter seven in our book Living Folklore, I have been motivated and actually get out and experience a culture rather than discuss it out of a book. Page 202 of our book states that Ethnography is the process of studying and learning about groups of people, as well as the written description and analysis of those observations. If I had the resources necessary, I think that I would go to Europe to study art that I have enjoy over the past years. I would go to The Louvre first and study all the amazing works that they possess there. But then I would travel to Figueras, Spain so I could study my favorite artist, Salvador Dalí, in his hometown. I have always had an interest in his work, and I figure that there is no place better to study his life’s work than in the place where he created most of it. Before I left, I would figure out where exactly I should go to learn more about him. If there were any museums dedicated to him, I would find them and try to schedule a tour of it. Then I would try to find his birthplace, houses he lived in, and finally his grave. I figure that all of these places would have valuable information about him. Truly understand his art does not come from just starring at his paintings for hours, you have to figure out where he was coming from and what he may be trying to portray. This work would definitely be worth doing. In college, my goal is to study things that most interest me. I have the rest of my life to worry about money and bills, now is the time to discover what is central to me. I figure that if I were lucky enough to take this trip I could find out if art like Salvador Dalí’s is enough to persuade me to go to art school or something of that sort. If you never try, you will never know. I suppose that this goes for any other culture or tradition that I may want to understand better. You have to go and experience it for yourself in order to have any sort of inside knowledge about the subject matter.