Virtual Ethnography 101: OMG! Planet of the Apes!

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.


(Photo Source: http://www.google.com.ph/planet of the apes)

Ethnography By Gabriela Daguman

Wild monkeys in the net

As a student of Social Anthropology in the University of the Philippines Baguio and now cross-registered and enrolled this summer in UP Diliman for my Anthropology 1 subject; I recalled that in some of my subjects in Anthropology, I had to study the behaviors of primates in one of my required courses. With this, me and my classmates all scoured the internet and looked into every website we could find that discuss the characteristics and behaviors of these species in the mammalian kingdom. From anatomical descriptions of their arms and legs, hands and feet, to their head size and communal social behaviors – we discussed it all in the classroom. In order for our report to come to life, we used video footages of various primates in the wild. Our report emphasized primates’ arboreal abilities and their hunting-gathering skills. In the film footage, we saw parent apes cared for their baby apes and how protective they are to the offspring.

Commonalities on primate behaviors show their survival skills, food gathering techniques, emotional state, and defense system that were as innate as we are as human species. Some apes are fierce and tough, others are caring and affectionate. They act as if they are not far from how humans behave – including their communal living and expression of love.

Habituated monkeys in the wild

Last Saturday, I went to Manila zoo with some classmates to observe primate behaviors. I took this opportunity not only to see the zoo again, which hadn’t done in years. When we got there in the afternoon, we noticed that there were fewer animals than before, aside form that, there were only two or three kinds of monkeys. I got a little disappointed. How in the world am I going to write an ethnography on ‘primates’ if I am only provided with few monkeys to observe. But as they say, it’s what you make of what you got.

One thing that I distinctly notice in the zoo, all animals are caged and habituated in a noisy, crowded, and odorous zoo. Some animals are bored and malnourished. Others simply smile from splashes of cameras, entertaining visitors to see them.

I compared my actual sighting of animals and monkeys to the video footage I watched in web before – there seem to be differences in their behaviors and living conditions.

Tamed monkey in my arms

Our last stop in the zoo was to see trained animals like birds, alligators, snakes, and monkeys entertain visitors. There are clear differences between trained animals and ordinary animals inside the cage. The monkey was so calm and behaved. He didn’t jump around, nor run away. In my arms, I carried him like a baby, but lighter than a fidgety child. He had even worn a diaper around his waist.

Oh the Monkey Groups (OMG)

I documented three scenarios of primate behaviors. In this ethnography, I learned that their environment can also determine the behaviors of primates and other animals. It is manifested when you pay closer attention to them. But at the end of the day, I discovered that primates and humans may have similarities on how we behave and externalize our emotions.