APPENDIX 4. Thick Description

Thick description, a concept first described by philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1949), is a level of data sufficient to provide correct understanding of an act. Ryle’s example of the difference between a blink and a wink illustrates the concepts of thin and thick description, and the inherent problems with thin description: “The thinnest description of what the [person] is doing [winking] is, roughly, the same as for the involuntary eyelid twitch; but its thick description is a many-layered sandwich, of which only the bottom slice is catered for by that the thinnest description.”

Geertz (1973) advocated the use of thick description in cultural anthropology because “Cultural analysis is intrinsically incomplete. And worse than that, the more deeply it goes, the less complete it is.” He described webs of significance as systems of cultural meaning that result from sets of relationships between variables and the meanings assigned to them by humans. When a society agrees on relationships between variables (e.g., words, behavior, [plants]) and their meanings, a system is established. Understanding of these relationships and systems can be achieved with thick description from ethnographic investigation. Examples from this study include:

• Ranchers say they teach their children about the environment (thin) vs. ranchers describe work activities as family affairs with children, even toddlers, going along when charcos (water catchments) need building or repair; those too little to help play in the creek and build their own dams and diversions, and begin to learn about water dynamics (thick).
• The Tohono O’odham say the mountain is sacred to them (thin) vs. they explain how the mountain is where they teach their children traditional knowledge, rituals, traditions, and ceremonies that can only be taught at the mountain at certain times and by certain people, consequently, without it, they lose their culture.