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A crisis in confidence -- Investigating existing ethnographic methods -- Is reflexivity necessary? -- The wrong way out: typology and idealism -- Reflexive realism: a new way of doing ethnography -- Measuring the "strength of belief" -- Toward reflexive ethnographic science

Discusses the inevitable role of allegory in ethnographic research & means of understanding & harnessing it. Encoded within written reports, ethnographic research represents a form of story telling that simultaneously describes real cultural events & makes moral, ideological, & abstract statements about the object of study & the outside world. Both local cultural & general meanings are implicit within ethnography, & it is argued that allegory is not a supplement to these stories, but the framework that gives them meaning. The factual cannot be separated from the allegorical in these accounts, & thus, the meanings of an ethnographic text cannot be controlled or limited by the author. Recognition of the role of allegory highlights the need for acceptance of the political & ethical dimensions of research, by both readers & writers of ethnography. T. Sevier

Book reviewed in this article:Innovation in Ethnographic Film. Peter Loizos. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. 224 pp.

Introduction Catherine Allerton, London School of Economics, UK -- 1. Different Childhoods, Different Ethnographies: Encounters in Rwanda Maja Haals Brosnan, London School of Economics, UK -- 2. "Difficult" Children: Ethnographic Chaos and Creativity in Migrant Malaysia Catherine Allerton -- 3. Paths to the Unfamiliar: Journeying with Children in Ecuadorian Amazonia Natalia Buitrón-Arias, London School of Economics, UK -- 4. The Exemplary Adult: Ethnographic Failure and Lessons from a Chinese School James Johnston, London School of Economics, UK -- 5. Learning to be a Child in Greater London Anne-Marie Sim, University of Oxford, UK -- 6. Questions and Curiosities, Ignorance and Understanding: Ethnographic Encounters with Children in Central India Peggy Froerer, Brunel University, UK -- 7. Protectors and Protected: Children, Parents and Infidelities in a Mexican Village Zorana Milicevic -- 8. Awkward Encounters: Authenticity and Artificiality in Rapport with Young Informants in China Ole Johannes Kaland, NLA University College, Norway -- 9. Growing Close Where Inequalities Grow Large? A Patron for Qur'anic Students in Nigeria Hannah Hoechner, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium -- 10. Understanding the Indefensible: Reflections on Fieldwork with Child Prostitutes in Thailand Heather Montgomery, Open University, UK -- 11. Guide to Further Reading, Catherine Allerton -- Select Bibliography -- Index.

In this book Paul Willis, a renowned sociologist and ethnographer, aims to renew and develop the ethnographic craft across the disciplines. Drawing from numerous examples of his own past and current work, he shows that ethnographic practice and the ethnographic imagination are vital to understanding the creativity and irreducibility of experience in all aspects of social and cultural practice. Willis argues that ethnography plays a vital role in constituting 'sensuousness' in textual, methodological, and substantive ways, but it can do this only through the deployment of an associated theoretical imagination which cannot be found simply there in the field. He presents a bold and incisive ethnographically oriented view of the world, emphasizing the need for a deep-running social but also aesthetic sensibility. In doing so he brings new insights to the understanding of human action and its dialectical relation to social and symbolic structures. He makes original contributions to the understanding of the contemporary human uses of objects, artefacts and communicative forms, presenting a new analysis of commodity fetishism as central to consumption and to the wider social relations of contemporary societies. He also utilizes his perspective to further the understanding of the contemporary crisis in masculinity and to cast new light on various lived everyday cultures - at school, on the dole, on the street, in the Mall, in front of TV, in the dance club. This book will be essential reading for all those involved in planning or contemplating ethnographic fieldwork and for those interested in the contributions it can make to the social sciences and humanities. Paul Willisis Professor of Social and Cultural Studes at Wolverhampton University. He is also the Founding Editor of the journal Ethnography.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Ethnography & the Ethnographic researcher -- Chapter 2 Ethnographic methods -- Chapter 3 Working as a Diagnostic Radiographer – relationships with colleagues -- Chapter 4 Working as a Diagnostic Radiographer – structure and environment -- Chapter 5 Working as a Diagnostic Radiographer – the role of the Diagnostic Radiographer -- Chapter 6 Radiography Education -- Chapter 7 Interprofessional learning & working -- Chapter 8 Relationships with service users and values-based practice -- Chapter 9 Summary, conclusions & recommendations.

Cinematographic Theory and New Dimensions in Ethnographic Film. Paul Hockings and Yasuhiro Omori, eds.Anthropological Filmmaking: Anthropological Perspectives on the Production of Film and Video for General Public Audiences. Jack R. Rollwagen, ed.Disappearing World. Andre Singer and Leslie Woodhead.Visual Explorations of the World: Selected Papers from the International Conference on Visual Communication. Martin Taureg and Jay Ruby, eds.

André Breton often insisted that surrealism was not a body of doctrines, or a definable idea, but an activity. The present essay is an exploration of ethnographic activity, set, as it must always be, in specific cultural and historical circumstances. I will be concentrating on ethnography and surrealism in France between the two world wars. To discuss these activities together—at times, indeed, to permit them to merge—is to question a number of common distinctions and unities.

"This highly original book brings compelling narratives of migration and social diversity vividly to life. At once a play script and an outcome of ethnographic research, this book is a rich resource for the interpretation and representation of life in the multilingual city. This text is an ethnographic drama based on audio-recordings, field notes, and interviews collected at Chinese Community Centre, Birmingham, as part of a research project which examined communication in multilingual, superdiverse cities. Characters are fictionalised versions of community centre workers, clients, and researchers who agreed to participate in the research."--

"The Ethnographic Interview is a practical, self-teaching handbook that guides readers step-by-step through interview techniques commonly used to research ethnography and culture. The text also shows how to analyze collected data and how to write an ethnography. Appendices include research questions and writing tasks."

In this article a general language for the characterization of ethnographic research is suggested. Drawing on interpretive philosophy, especially the work of Gadamer and Schutz, a core process of ethnography is described that emphasizes the resolution of problems in understanding across tradition boundaries. Concepts from recent work in knowledge representation are incorporated into the discussion to integrate it with current interdisciplinary work. [ethnography, hermeneutics, knowledge representation]

"In this book research in process and research findings are represented in a play script which brings vividly to life both ethnographic research methods and communication in the world of sport. This highly original book brings innovation and imagination to the representation of language in social life"--

Trust occupies a unique place in contemporary discourse. Seen as both necessary and good, it is variously depicted as enhancing the social fabric, lowering crime rates, increasing happiness, and generating prosperity. It allows for complex political systems, permits human communication, underpins financial instruments and economic institutions, and holds society itself together. There is scant space within this vision for a nuanced discussion of mistrust. With few exceptions, it is treated as little more than a corrosive absence. This monograph, instead, proposes an ethnographic and conceptual exploration of mistrust as a legitimate epistemological stance in its own right. It examines the impact of mistrust on practices of conversation and communication, friendship and society, as well as politics and cooperation, and suggests that suspicion, doubt, and uncertainty can also ground ways of organizing human society and cooperating with others.

This article reviews innovations in ethnographic methods that have developed over the past 25 years, specifically the emergence of multisited and short-term fieldwork, digital ethnography, various kinds of participatory and collaborative ethnography, and the use of interviews. Ethnographic methods, once primarily employed by anthropologists, have now been embraced by many other social science practitioners. The article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of how these methods are being implemented and applied; the ethical challenges their use raises; and the kinds of novel modes of interpretation, analysis, and representations of research findings they are producing.