Experimenting with Ethnography collects twenty-one essays that open new paths for doing ethnographic analysis. The contributors-who come from a variety of intellectual and methodological traditions-enliven analysis by refusing to take it as an abstract, disembodied exercise. Rather, they frame it as a concrete mode of action and a creative practice. Encompassing topics ranging from language and the body to technology and modes of collaboration, the essays invite readers to focus on the imaginative work that needs to be performed prior to completing an argument. Whether exchanging objects, showing how to use drawn images as a way to analyze data, or working with smartphones, sound recordings, and social media as analytic devices, the contributors explore the deliberate processes for pursuing experimental thinking through ethnography. Practical and broad in theoretical scope, Experimenting with Ethnography is an indispensable companion for all ethnographers.
Contributors. Patricia Alvarez Astacio, Andrea Ballestero, Ivan da Costa Marques, Steffen Dalsgaard, Endre Danyi, Marisol de la Cadena, Marianne de Laet, Carolina Dominguez Guzman, Rachel Douglas-Jones, Clement Dreano, Joseph Dumit, Melanie Ford Lemus, Elaine Gan, Oliver Human, Alberto Corsin Jimenez, Graham M. Jones, Trine Mygind Korsby, Justine Laurent, James Maguire, George E. Marcus, Annemarie Mol, Sarah Pink, Els Roding, Markus Rudolfi, Ulrike Scholtes, Anthony Stavrianakis, Lucy Suchman, Katie Ulrich, Helen Verran, Else Vogel, Antonia Walford, Karen Waltorp, Laura Watts, Brit Ross Winthereik
Industry Reviews
"This innovative book about ethnography as knowledge provokes in all the right ways. Packed with concrete and creative suggestions for doing, writing, and teaching ethnography well beyond anthropology,
Experimenting with Ethnography offers thoughtful inspiration for anyone seeking to sharpen their analytical skills." -- Carole McGranahan, editor of * Writing Anthropology: Essays on Craft and Commitment *
"Along with much else, analysis is at risk today, as it is equated with actionable findings, tempting us to bracket everything that's confusing. What to do? Let this stunning gathering of anthropologists surprise, puzzle, and enlighten you: their work opens up an altogether different mode of analysis, one that expands the range of incompatibilities that can be held together in thought, a critical competence for anyone committed to knowing and acting in and with, not merely of and on, our world." -- Noortje Marres, author of * Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research *
"Invaluable. Any qualitative researchers, not just ethnographers, would benefit from the practical, hands-on protocols, as well as the imaginative and diverse projects the authors reference. No other book I have come across offers more stimulating and practical guidance on undertaking analysis of ethnographic material."
-- Emily Zimbrick-Rogers * Practical Theology *
"I was continually inspired as I read through this collection of essays and heartened by the willingness of the authors to reveal the inner workings of how ethnographic analysis may unfold. I highly recommend Experimenting with Ethnography to anyone who already has a hunch that ethnographic analysis is not an endpoint but rather a stop along the way."
-- Christine Hegel * Anthropos *
