Approaches to Ethnography

Colin Jerolmack is an assistant professor of sociology and environmental studies at New York University. He is the author of The Global Pigeon (Chicago, 2013), a comparative ethnography of how our relationships with animals shape city life.Shamus Khan is an associate professor of sociology at Columbia University. He is the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School (Princeton, 2011), an ethnographic study of an elite boarding school, and coeditor of The Practice of Research: How Social Scientists Answer their Questions (with Dana Fisher, Oxford, 2013).

• List of Contributors Introduction: An Analytic Approach to Ethnography Colin Jerolmack and Shamus Khan 1. Microsociology: Beneath the Surface Jooyoung Lee 2. Capturing Organizations as ActorsKatherine Chen 3. Macro Analysis: Power in the FieldLeslie Salzinger and Teresa Gowan 4. People and PlacesDouglas Harper 5. Mechanisms Iddo Tavory and Stefan Timmermans6. Embodiment: A Dispositional Approach to Racial and Cultural Analysis Black Hawk Hancock 7. Situations Monica McDermott 8. Reflexivity: Introspection, Positionality, and the Self as Research Instrument-Toward a Model of Abductive Reflexivity Forrest Stuart

"Approaches to Ethnography brings to light the backstage of the craft in fascinating first-person accounts. We see how and why ethnographers make the analytic choices they do, and the subtle yet powerful ways the frame chosen illuminates practice. For the first time, a book captures the analytic process in action." --Diane Vaughan, Columbia University"Many volumes offer readers a step-by-step introduction to ethnography. Instead, Approaches to Ethnography offers models-a menu of options for ethnographers to emulate, think with, and build upon. The models range widely in focus, approach, and perspective, and thus give practitioners a broad and tremendously useful introduction to the actual practice of ethnography today." --Mario Luis Small, Harvard University"In this collection of essays by practiced fieldworkers, the diversity of ethnography is on full display. Rather than claiming there is a single right way to do ethnography, the authors draw on their own experiences to show the strengths and limitations of multiple approaches. Students of the craft will carry this necessary and elegant manual into the field for years to come." --Matthew Desmond, Princeton University"Featuring a wide variation in foci, scales, ways of seeing, analyzing, and representing, this impressive collection features the insightful and stimulating work of practicing ethnographers. The joint result not only illuminates diverse social universes but also clarifies key differences between analytic sensibilities. This volume rekindles the love for the craft of ethnography-and should persuade those new to it to enthusiastically join the trade." --Javier Auyero, University of Texas - Austin