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Messy ethnographies in action

Title

Messy ethnographies in action / edited by Alexandra Plows ; foreword by John Law.

Format

Book

Published

Wilmington, Delaware : Vernon Press, [2018] ©2018

Description

xxv, 191 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Other contributors

Plows, Alexandra, editor.

Uniform series

Vernon series in anthropology.

Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• Introduction: coming clean about messy ethnography / Alexandra Plows
• Section 1 Reflecting on messy research practice
• Chapter 1. Mud on the carpet: messy reflexive practices with older environmental activists-bringing the outside in / Mary Gearey
• Chapter 2. Revealing a 'hidden civil war': a serendipitous methodology / Sue Lewis, Martyn Hudson, and Joe Painter
• Chapter 3. Changing forms of ethnography and shifting researcher positioning in the study of a Mexican martial art / George Jennings
• Chapter 4. Haphazard knowledge production: thoughts on ethnography and mess in the urbanising Ecuadorian Amazon / Nina Isabella Moeller
• Section 2 Messy ethics
• Chapter 5. The case for more ethnographic research with the criminal's perspective / Lisa Potter

Contents note

• Chapter 6. Managing morality: neoliberal ethics regimes and messy field work / Rafi Alam
• Chapter 7. Everyday messiness of ethnography: reflections on fieldwork in Mid-West Brazil
• Section 3 Messy participation
• Chapter 8. The boundlessness of digital democrary
• ethnography of an ICT-mediated public in Brexit Britain / Gabriel Popham
• Chapter 9. Places on probation: an auto-ethnography of co-produced research with women with criminal biographies / Nicola Harding
• Chapter 10. 'Messily embedded': an auto-ethnography of redundancy in the Welsh nuclear industry / Alexandra Plows
• Chapter 11. A messy ethnography of mess / Ville Savolainen
• Section 4 Messy research sites and spaces
• Chapter 12. Not only the night: the messiness of ethnography of nurses' night work / Trudy Rudge, Luisa Toffoli and Sandra West

• Chapter 13. Adapting to parents in crisis: tracing experiences of having a child with chronic kidney disease / Andrea Bruno de Sousa
• Chapter 14. Attempting to deep map multiple realities: the 'therapeutic landscape' of Saltwell Park / Wayne Medford
• Chapter 15. The challenges of ethnographic practice in current urban complex situations / Paola Jiron and Walter Imilan
• Chapter 16. Sharing foodscapes: shaping urban foodscapes through messy processes of food sharing / Monika Rut and Anna R. Davies.

Summary

"This edited collection of chapters showcases original and interdisciplinary ethnographic fieldwork in a range of international settings; including studies of underground pub life in North East England; Finnish hotels; and bio-scientific institutions in the Amazonian rainforest. Informed by John Law’s concept of ethnographic 'mess,' this book makes a unique, empirically-informed, contribution to an understanding of the social construction of knowledge and the role that ethnography can and does play (Law, 2004). It provides a range of colourful snapshots from the field, showing how different researchers from multiple research environments and disciplines are negotiating the practicalities, and epistemological and ethical implications, of 'messy' ethnographic practice as a means of researching 'messy' social realities. Law notes that 'social…science investigations interfere with the world…things change as a result. The issue, then, is not to seek disengagement but rather with how to engage' (ibid p14). Drawing on their own situated experiences, the book’s contributors address the 'messy' implications of this and also explore the (equally messy) issue of why engage. They reflect on the process of undertaking research, and their role in the research process as they negotiate their own position in the field. What is ethnography 'for'? What impact should, or do, we have in the field and after we leave the research site? What about unintended consequences? When (if ever) are we 'off duty?' What does 'informed consent' mean in a constantly shifting, dynamic ethnographic context? Is ethnography by its very nature a form of 'action research?' By providing a wide range of situated explorations of 'messy ethnographies,' the book presents a unique, hands-on guide to the challenges of negotiating ethnography in practice, which will be of use to all researchers and practitioners who use ethnography as a method." -- From publishers website.

Subject headings

Ethnology--Methodology. Ethnology--Philosophy.

ISBN

9781622733293 hardcover 1622733290 hardcover 9781622734320 paperback 1622734327 paperback