Challenges and Solutions in Ethnographic Research: Ethnography with a Twist

Challenges and Solutions in Ethnographic Research: Ethnography with a Twist seeks to rethink ethnography ‘outside the box’ of its previous tradition and to develop ethnographic methods by critically discussing the process, ethics, impact and knowledge production in ethnographic research. This interdisciplinary edited volume argues for a ‘twist’ that supports openness, courage, and creativity to develop and test innovative and unconventional ways of thinking and doing ethnography. ‘Ethnography with a twist’ means both an intentional aim to conduct ethnographic research with novel approaches and methods but also sensitivity to recognize and creativity to utilize different kinds of ‘twist moments’ that ethnographic research may create for the researcher. This edited volume critically evaluates new and old methodological tools and their ability to engage with questions of power difference. It proposes new collaborative methods that allow for co-production and co-creation of research material as well as shared conceptual work and wider distribution of knowledge. The book will be of use to ethnographers in humanities and social science disciplines including sociology, anthropology and communication studies.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables List of Contributors Preface Introduction: Ethnography With a Twist; Part I: New Collaborative Practices in Ethnography 1. Poly-Space: Creating New Concepts Through Reflexive Team Ethnography 2. Embodied Adventures: An Experiment on Doing and Writing Multisensory Ethnography 3. Ramblings: A Walk in Progress (Or the Minutes of The International Society of The Imaginary Perambulator); Part II: Visuality And Multi-Modality in Ethnography 4. Participant-Induced Elicitation in Digital Environments 5. Ethical Challenges of Using Video for Qualitative Research and Ethnography: State of The Art and Prospective Guidelines 6. Drawing and Storycrafting With Estonian Children: Sharing Experiences of Mobility 7. Sharpening the Pencil: A Visual Journey Towards the Outlines of Drawing as An Autoethnographical Method; Part III: Ethnography of Power Dynamics in Challenging Contexts 8. Retrospective Ethnographies: Twisting Moments of Researching Commemorative Practices Among Volunteers After the Refugee Arrivals to Europe 2015 9. Ethnographic Challenges to Studying the Poor in And from The Global South 10. Elite Interviewing: The Effects of Power in Interactions. The Experiences of a Northern Woman; Part IV: Embodied and Affective Ethnography 11. Memory Narrations as A Source for Historical Ethnography and The Sensorial-Affective Experience of Migration 12. The Involuntary Ethnographer and An Eagerness to Know 13. Ethnography, Arts Production and Performance: Meaning-Making in And for The Street; Ethnographic Twists and Turns: An Alternative Epilogue

About the Author :
Tuuli Lähdesmäki is a Senior Researcher and an Adjunct Professor working at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto is a Post-doctoral Researcher working at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Viktorija L.A. Čeginskas is a Post-doctoral Researcher working at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Aino-Kaisa Koistinen is a Post-doctoral Researcher working at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

Review :
'This compelling volume charts new approaches, from sensory ethnography to walking as method, to challenge settled norms and unsettle the kinds of contributions ethnography can make to the world.' -- Bill Maurer, Professor of Anthropology and Law, University of California, Irvine, USA. 'A brilliant companion for anyone in search for novel approaches in ethnography. Theoretically well founded and methodologically inventive it will inspire scholars who team up with professionals in arts and culture.' -- Jonas Frykman. Professor of Ethnology, Lund University, Sweden. 'This volume richly reflects the variety of work being done and encouraged there and advances particularly the many ways ethnography is being 'twisted' true to its past spirit and investment in understanding present futures.' -- George E. Marcus, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, USA. What happens when ethnography, the classic method and mode of knowledge dissemination for anthropology, migrates across domains, to other academic fields as well as whole other areas of creative, clinical, or educational practice? This compelling volume tracks the twists and turns of ethnographic research as it wends its way through challenging social and political arenas as diverse as migrant resettlement and musical composition, and as it inspires collaboration between observer and observed, breaking down this dichotomy while also fusing process with product. The volume charts new approaches, from sensory ethnography to walking as method, to challenge settled norms and unsettle the kinds of contributions ethnography can make to the world. Bill Maurer, Professor of Anthropology and Law, University of California, Irvine, USA. A brilliant companion for anyone in search for novel approaches in ethnography. Theoretically well founded and methodologically inventive it will inspire scholars who team up with professionals in arts and culture. Jonas Frykman. Professor of Ethnology, Lund University, Sweden. In the paradigm of multi-sited ethnography research of the 1990s, responsive to globalization, I evoked ‘circumstantial activism’ arising as a puzzle of political commitment and more performative making in the complex relations of any individually pursued ethnographic research project. Nowadays, we are amidst a rich evolution of this ‘activism’ tendency in all kinds of experiments that blend fieldwork, performance, new technological affordances, and above all the forging of diverse collaborations in participation. This volume richly reflects the variety of work being done and encouraged there and advances particularly the many ways ethnography is being 'twisted' true to its past spirit and investment in understanding present futures. George E. Marcus, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, USA.