Reflexivity: "How did the author come to write this text…Is there adequate self-awareness and self-exposure for the reader to make judgments about the point-of-view?"
This work is probably strongest on the issue of reflexivity because the author makes clear that she was embedded in the controversy, though she also offers and outsiders perspective, the experiences of the work were lived experiences. Her introduction material makes clear that she had both a journalistic and personal interest in the development of the human rights condition within the culture of Columbia. This could have created a challenge to objectivity but her scholarly skill obviously well contains the desire to be overly personal or sentimental, a problem that can be seen in some ethnographic works.
Impact: "Does this affect me? Emotionally? Intellectually?" Does it move me?
The work did impact me, emotionally and intellectually as it adequately demonstrated atrocities, though like I said previously it would be nice to have more primary source works embedded in the work, to pull away from the academics of the piece and demonstrate its more emotional details. Overall it demonstrated an excellent introduction to how human rights activism evolved and why it is so important to come to consensus on definitions and standards with regard to this highly charged issue. It also demonstrated the fact that transparency of intent and action was one of the essential problems in Colombia and that this seriously effected the development of the movements and the culture. Some of these issues are serious examples of the type of foreshadowing that is evident in fiction.
Expresses a Reality: "Does it seem 'true' -- a credible account of a cultural, social, individual, or communal sense of the 'real'?
There is no question that this work expresses a reality, though it may be slanted toward the "reality" not of the culture but of the culture of the human rights movement. The credibility of the work is also unquestionable as...
This supports the ethnographic, holistic slant of the work and lends to its themes and contents.
Conclusion
The work, Counting the Dead: The Culture and Politics of Human Rights Activism in Columbia by Winifred Tate is a great example of themeatic publishing as well as a good introduction to how the political and personal (as well as the internal and external) issues of any given movement influence its development. It was wholly a good read and would serve as a great core text for any international human rights themes seminar or class. Though the work lends itself to confusion, because it is so very intricate and based on direct involvement, it can be easily understood when defined concepts are in place, and with the added assistance of the author. Overall, the work offered a good text for examination of the ethnographic structure of research and documentation, if it did slightly overemphasize the opinion and interest of the author over other primary sources, by having a tendency to leave primary documents out.
References
Richardson, Laurel. "Evaluating ethnography." Qualitative Inquiry, 6, n. 2, (2000) 253-255.
Tate, Winifred. Counting the Dead: The Culture and Politics of Human Rights Activism in Columbia Berkeley CA: University of California Press, (2007).
University of California Press, "Books: Winifred Tate: Counting the Dead" http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10703.php
University of California Press, "Books: Winifred Tate: Counting the Dead" http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10703.php
Laurel Richardson, "Evaluating ethnography." Qualitative Inquiry, 6, n. 2, (2000) 254.
Winifred Tate, Counting the Dead: The Culture and Politics of Human Rights Activism in Colombia. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, (2007) 6-9.
Ibid. 96, 341-342.
