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Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) AIHR

On Ethnography: Basics and Beyond | OPEN

This tutorial introduces ethnography as a “cocktail of methodologies”. You will learn about classic ethnographic research skills and practices: field access, rapport building, toolkit, reflexivity, community and practice mapping, data collection, triangulation and analysis, ‘abductive’ theorisation, research ethics, and moral dilemmas. In addition, we will explore different ethnographic approaches and review different ethnographic writing styles.
Course dates & Registration
Course details and reading lists
  • Session 1 (11 February): What is ethnography?

    Required readings:
    1. Brennen, B (2017): Chapter 7: Ethnography and Participant Observation, in: Qualitative Research Methods for Media Studies, New York: Routledge, 159-191.
    2. Mears, A. ( 2013): Ethnography as Precarious Work, The Sociological Quarterly, 54/1, 20-34.
    3.Baczko, A. and Dorronsoro, G. (2020): The Ethical, Epistemological, and Conceptual Need to Resume Fieldwork, https://items.ssrc.org/covid-19-and-the-social-sciences/social-research-and-insecurity/the-ethical-epistemological-and-conceptual-need-to-resume-fieldwork/.
    4.One of the below, based on your personal interest:

    Akdeniz, N. (2019): From participant observation to participant action (-to -be): Multi-sited ethnography of displacement in Cyprus, Ethnography, 0/ 0, 1-23.
    Anderson, L. (2006): Analytic Autoethnography, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography , 35/4 , 373-395
    Luvaas, Brent (2019): Unbecoming: The aftereffects of autoethnography, Ethnography , 20/2, 245-262.

  • Session 2 (18 February): New forms and approaches to ethnography

    Required readings:

    1. Günel, G. and Watanabe, C. (2023): Patchwork ethnography, American Ethnologist, 1-9.

    2. Howell, S. (2017): Two or three things I love about ethnography, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 7/1, 15-20.

    3. Murphy, A.K., Jerolmack, C. and Smith, D. (2021): Ethnography, data Transparency, and the Information Age, Annual Review of Sociology,47/1, 41-61.

    4. One of the below, based on your personal interest:

    Dong, J. (2017): Chinese elite migrants and formation of new communities in a changing society: An online-offline ethnography. Ethnography, 18/2, 221-239.

    Forberg, P.L. (2021): From the Fringe to the Fore: An Algorithmic Ethnography of the Far-Right Conspiracy Theory Group Qanon, Ethnography, 1-27.

    Käihkö, I. (2020): Conflict chatnography: Instant messaging apps, social media and conflict ethnography in Ukraine, Ethnography, 21/1, 71-91.

    Kefala,Christina (2023): 'I'm Not an Alien. I'm a Digital Ethnographer': Doing Online Research with China's Social Media, Asiascape: Digital Asia, 10/1-2, 42-52.

    Task:

    Please write and send a short text (about 300 words) via email by 16 February, reflecting on the ways in which new ethnographic approaches could be beneficial to your project.

  • Session 3 (25 February): Positionality, ethics & challenges

    Required readings:

    1. Fine, G. A. (1993): Ten Lies of Ethnography: Moral Dilemmas of Field Research, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography , 22, 267-294.

    2. Pollard, A. (2009): Field of screams: difficulty and ethnographic fieldwork, Anthropology Matters Journal , 11/2 .

    3. Reyes, V. (2018): Ethnographic Toolkit: Strategic Positionality and Researchers’ Visible and Invisible Tools in Field Research, Ethnography , 21/2 , 220-240.

    4. One of the below, based on your personal interests:

    Chua, L. (2021): Selfies and Self Fictions: Calibrating Co presence in and of ‘the Field’, Social Analysis , 65/1 , 151-161.

    DeLuca, J.R. and Maddox, C.B. (2016): Tales from the Ethnographic Field: Navigating Feelings of Guilt and Privilege in the Research Process Field Methods , 28/3 , 284-299.

    Huisman, K. (2008): Does This Mean You’re Not Going to Come Visit Me Anymore? An Inquiry into an Ethics of Reciprocity and Positionality in Feminist Ethnographic Research, Sociological Inquiry, 78/3 , 372-396.

    Mayorga-Gallo, S. and Hordge-Freeman, E. (2017): Between marginality and privilege: Gaining access and navigating the field in multiethnic settings, Qualitative Research, 17/4, 377-94.

    Schramm , K. ( ‘You have your own history. Keep your hands off ours!’ On being rejected in the field , Social Anthropology, 13/2 , 171-183.

    Task:

    Please write and send a short text (about 300 words) via email by 23 February, reflecting on your positionality in the field and the main challenges you encountered or expect to encounter while doing ethnographic research.

  • Recommended further readings

    1. Daynes, S. and Williams, T. (2018): On Ethnography, Polity Press.

    2. Emerson, R.M., Fretz, R.I., and Shaw, L.L. (2011): Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, University of Chicago Press.

    3. Geertz, C. (1973): Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture, The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books, 310-333.

    4. Pink, S. et al. (2015): Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice, SAGE Publications.

    5. Wilson, W. J. and Chaddha, A. (2009): The role of theory in ethnographic research, Ethnography, 10/4, 549-564.