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Ethnography & Social Identities: Methods and Insights

Explore the diverse methods of ethnography like participant observation, interviews, and surveys, uncovering insights on social identities, development, and agency in the field. Delve into ethical considerations, consent, and the art of writing notes with reflexivity. Learn about challenges of leaving the field, emotional attachment, and the process of writing up findings for a deeper understanding. Discover critical perspectives on representation and advocacy in ethnographic research.

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Ethnography & Social Identities: Methods and Insights

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  1. Ethnography, Social Identities and Development Hugo Gorringe & Suryakant Waghmore

  2. Ethnography is … • Participant Observation • Formal & Informal Interviews • Life Histories (address atemporality?) • Conversations • Surveys • Transect Walks • Media/Archives • Events

  3. Before ‘entering the field’ • Practical • Visas, jabs, language • Terminology • Equipment • Parameters • Academic • Question • Focus • Methods: Participant Observation; surveys; interviews; life histories; transect walks etc.

  4. How You Are Perceived • Missionary • Foreign Agent • NGO Worker • Benefactor • Spy • Informer • Activist • Academic

  5. Identity, Development & Agency • What insights can ethnography offer?

  6. Writing Notes • ‘P. Obs’ actually about Writing • When and where do you take notes? • A note on notes • Who for? To what end? • Focus? • Description/Analysis? • Ethics

  7. A Note on Notes • Memos to Self • Summaries • Fuller Write Up • Translation? • Reflexivity • Context matters • Observations, snippets of conversation, chats, speeches … It is through gossip and rumor that one can gain what is, in effect, a map of the social environment in which one lives and works (Fine in R.S 2010)

  8. Informed Consent … & Beyond • Informed Consent … • Who is a ‘well-informed’ respondent? • What are the relations between the researcher and researched? • Changing the field? What is the site? • … & Beyond • Avoid harm • Consult extensively • anonymise

  9. Ethics How far to anonymise? How to gain consent? It is not possible to use the excuse that the names have changed, as for any of the Vathimas in general and TRP inhabitants in particular, it is easy to identify each and every one of the people mentioned, especially for me as a TRP native (Narayan). … we acknowledge that it is true that people can sometimes be identified despite the use of pseudonyms. We regret that this is the case in our article and recognize that we should not have allowed it to occur (Fuller & Narasimhan) Fuller, C.J. & H. Narasimhan 2008. ‘Companionate marriage in India’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14, 736-54. Above quote taken from: Narayan and Fuller & Narasimhan 2010. ‘Correspondence’, JRAI 16(4): pp892-3

  10. Leaving the Field? I […] had to learn that the fieldworker cannot afford to think only of learning to live with others in the field. He has to continue living with himself (Whyte 1955, Street-Corner Society, p.317). • Emotional attachment or ‘objectivity’? • When, if at all, are you off-duty? • How do you decide when to finish?

  11. Writing Up: Making sense of the Mess If you’re an ethnographer you should be in the field and you should be able to convey to your readers in your text what life in the field was like (Fine in R.S 2010: 89) • From emic (local knowledge) to etic (analyst’s perspective) … or more dialogic? • ‘Since every group is unique, if you want to generalize you need to demonstrate that your research site is not a special or unusual case’ (Fine in R.S 2010). • Deeper Understanding? • Advocacy/Realism/Impressionism? • Readability? ‘Through a variety of rhetorical conventions and devices, it seeks to convince readers that it offers a compelling and accurate empirical portrait of the people and setting(s) studied and a credible theoretical analysis of these findings’ (Adler & Adler 2008: 5).

  12. Adler, P & Adler, P. 2008. ‘Of Rhetoric & Representation: The Four Faces of Ethnography’ Sociological Quarterly 49(1): 1-30 • Coffey, Amanda. 1999. The ethnographic self: fieldwork and the representation of identity. London: Sage. • Fine, G. A. (2003). Towards a peopled ethnography: Developing theory from group life. Ethnography, 4, 41–60. • Ferrell, Jeff & Mark S. Hamm. (ed.). 1998. Ethnography at the edge: crime, deviance and field research. Boston: Northeastern University Press. • Fleetwood, J. (2009a), ‘Emotional Work: Ethnographic Fieldwork in Prisons in Ecuador’, E-sharp Special Issue: Critical Issues in Researching Hidden Communities: 28–50: http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_134470_en.pdf • Hammersley, Martyn & Paul Atkinson. 1983. Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London: Routledge. • Mason, J. 2002. Qualitative Researching. 2nd Ed. London: Sage • Sassatelli, R. 2010. ‘A Serial Ethnographer: An Interview with Gary Alan Fine’, Qualitative Sociology 33(1) • Van Maanen, J. 2011. Tales of the Field. 2nd Ed. Uni of Chicago Press

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