Virtual Ethnography 101: The Next Big Thing

This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.

I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.

Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.

By Llenel de Castro



It’s nice to have a technology savvy church.

This year’s Visita Iglesia took me to six different churches from Bulacan and Pangasinan. I averaged four minutes per station and excluding the six-hour lag between the fourth and fifth station, the whole way of the cross was finished in 43 minutes.

I started my online journey while lying down on my beanbag couch on Saturday afternoon. Still in my pajama and barely finished with my cereal, I loaded the introduction video. In it., Msgr. Pedro C. Quitorio III, CBCP’s Media Office Director talked about why they made the online version. He explained that it was made for those who are unable to do the traditional Visita Iglesia, such as the sick or OFWs, and not for those who are just too lazy to go out or those who claim to be allergic to heat (guilty!).

The first church featured was St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in Balagtas, Bulacan. With just a simple click, the voice recording of the first station, The Last Supper, began. After four minutes, the audio recording of the second station, The Agony in Gethsemani, played. At 1:38 PM, I moved on to another church, the Nuestra Senora dela Asuncion in Bulakan, Bulacan. Here I listened to the audio recording of the third, Jesus Before the Sanhedrin, and fourth, The Scourging and Crowning with Thorns, stations.

I experienced technical difficulties at the fifth station. The audio file for the fifth station simply would not load no matter how many times I tried so at 1:48 PM, I decided to take a long break that involved taking a nap, watching a few episode of Bones, doing other assignments and eating chips, dip and dinner. I resumed at 7:16 PM and listened to the audio recording of the fifth, Jesus Receives the Cross, and sixth, Jesus Falls Under the Weight of the Cross, station while looking at images of the San Ildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo Parish in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

The seventh, Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross of Jesus, and eight, Jesus Meets the Pious Women of Jerusalem, stations showed pictures or the exterior façade and retablo of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Barasoain Bulacan. The ninth, Jesus is Nailed to the Cross, and tenth, The Repentant Thief, on the other hand, featured photos from Our Lady of Purification Parish in Binmaley, Pangasinan. The last two stations, Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross and Jesus Dies on the Cross, took me to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Parish in Manaoag, Pangasinan.

My online journey officially ended at 7:47 PM. In a total time of 43 minutes, I was able to visit six churches in two provinces, roughly a hundred kilometers apart, by just clicking a simple button. Admittedly, my attention sometimes drifted to other things and I found myself reading up on different topics, such as places to spend Easter morning, while listening. It may seem like a cheat who are physically able to do the real thing but it’s just like the e-burol and e-libing services offered by a popular chapel service, catering to family members who can’t attend. While the online Visita Iglesia can’t replace the experience of traveling for hours moving from one place to another while trying to survive the unbearable heat and hunger, for those homesick Filipinos in different parts of the world, it’s the next best thing.