That ethnographic work is often ahistorical, writing about people as if they were "out of time" in an "ethnographic present" (Johannes Fabian, Time and Its Other).
ðæt ˌɛθnəɡɹˈæfɪk wˈɜːk ɪz ˈɔfən ˌæhɪstˈɔːɹɪkəl, ɹˈaɪɾɪŋ ɐbˌaʊt pˈiːpəl æz ɪf ðeɪ wɜː "ˌaʊɾəv tˈaɪm" ɪn æn "ˌɛθnəɡɹˈæfɪk pɹˈɛzənt" dʒˈoʊhænz fˈæbiən, tˈaɪm ænd ɪts ˈʌðɚ.