ETHNOGRAPHIES AS TEXTS ETHNOGRAPHERS AS GRIOTS

West African griots or bards are charged with talking social life; the y are burdened by a localized politics of representation. Ethnographer s are charged with writing or filming social life, they are burdened b y a globalized politics of representation. In this article, / suggest that ethnographers have much to learn from the localized practices of griots. More specifically, / argue that when ethnographers attempt to depict social life-to write or film lives-they consider following the griot's path. This means that ethnographers, like griots, spend long p eriods of time apprenticing themselves to elders, long periods of time mastering knowledge. This also means that ethnographers attempt not o nly to make contributions to social theory but also to tell the story of a people or a person with depth, respect, and poetic evocation.