The ethnographic present refers to the present tense that postmodern ethnographers used to describe traditional cultures in slightly unreal terms that edited out the influences of the outside world.

The ethnographic present refers to the present tense that early ethnographers used to describe traditional cultures in slightly unreal terms that edited out the influences of the outside world.

The ethnographic present refers to the issue of compensation of one's

informants--for example Marjorie Shostak's purchasing an ox for the !Kung for Christmas dinner