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Beyond navel-gazing and narcissism.Ferrell's auto-ethnography as part of ethnography
Beyond navel-gazing and narcissism.Ferrell's auto-ethnography as part of ethnography
The labeling of auto-ethnography as navel-gazing does not do justice to the variety with which auto-ethnography is applied. A distinction should be made between emotional and analytical auto-ethnography. In the first form the central person of the researcher plays the central role, in the second auto-ethnography is applied to get a better understanding of the social world which is being studied. In this article the author discusses the second approach by using the work of Jeff Ferrell. Ferrell is a well-known cultural criminologist, who focuses critically on the cultural understanding of social life. By looking at how Ferrell applies auto-ethnography, insight is gained into the added value of this method for qualitative studies: (1) the integration of the personal experiences of researchers in texts in order to achieve a richer description of the social worlds they explore, (2) making explicit the role of the researcher in publications, and (3) developing new (more appealing) forms of representation.

The future of ethnography in the Big Data era
By taking an ethnographic viewpoint, Beuving explores knowledge claims about Big Data (BD) as discussed in Seth Stephens-Davidowitz' best-selling book Everybody Lies (2017). It portrays BD in a way that evokes affinity with ethnography: as a naturalistic research practice that makes small subpopulations visible and discloses people's hidden motives. But for Beuving this threefold assertion appears to rest on misguided conceptions. For the ethnographic researcher, naturalism refers to a reflexive practice, yet the BD researcher associates it with researcher invisibility. And the term population, which has a statistical meaning in BD, has a strong theoretical connotation in ethnography. Finally, motives in BD are about direct interpretation of revealed preferences as social facts, whereas the ethnographer considers them to be expressions of social behavior that require a Verstehende interpretation.
Bosch sees the relation of ethnography and Big Data research as a new form of Methodenstreit, which urges qualitative researchers to develop and apply user-oriented analysis techniques. Gigengack stresses that ethnography and Big Data are in fact incompatible. They should not be seen as methodological rivals in understanding society and social conduct. Ethnography and Big Data analyses are different perspectives on the social world. Ethnography should study the world of Internet behavior as it studies religious rites or societal identities.

This book takes you on a journey exploring the histories of the country's first Polynesian discoverers, its encounters with Europeans and the subsequent settling by Westerners. Particular attention will be paid to the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and the Dutch immigration wave of the 1950s. Through a discussion of the meeting house and meeting grounds, the relationships Maori maintain to the land will be considered. The vital role of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and its present-day repercussions will be looked at. Finally the role of taonga or cultural treasures embodying the ancestral identity of a Maori kin group in relation to particular lands and resources will be explained. - Dit boek neemt de lezer mee op een reis langs de eerste Polynesische ontdekkers, hun ontmoetingen met de Europeanen en de daaropvolgende vestiging van Westerlingen. Bijzondere aandacht is er voor de ontdekkingsreiziger Abel Tasman en de stroom Nederlandse immigranten in de jaren '50. Aan de hand van hun ontmoetingshuizen en -plaatsen wordt de speciale relatie van de Maori met hun land geïllustreerd. De sleutelrol van het Verdrag van Waitangi (1840) met zijn hedendaagse uitwerking wordt beschouwd en tenslotte is er aandacht voor de rol van taonga, de cultuurschatten die de voorouderlijke identiteit belichamen van een Maorigeslacht in relatie tot hun land en hun middelen.

Biography becomes ethnography; how life history interviews of a criminal turned into participant observation
Biography becomes ethnography; how life history interviews of a criminal turned into participant observation
Life history interviews with a (criminal) person seem to focus on what has happened in the past. However, following a self-evident chronological frame, researcher and respondent find themselves working towards here and now. Methods change, as does the relation between the two.

Digital ethnography: Methodological reflections on using online readers' comments
Digital ethnography has gained in popularity, but it is less common to (also) analyze readers' comments on societal and scientific developments. This article aims to give insight in how such comments may be interesting for qualitative research, for instance in demonstrating how readers translate scientific news to their own worlds and world views. This enables an analysis of how publics are constructed through (news) blogs and websites. Simultaneously, qualitative researchers also play a role in constructing the public, for instance in the position they adopt in ethical dilemmas in relation to online research, and in this article I will reflect on some of these dilemmas.

Sarah Pink, Heather Horst, John Postill, Larissa Hjorth, Tania Lewis & Jo Tacchi, Digital ethnography: Principles and practice, Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2016, 202 pp., ISBN 978-1-4739-0238-1, € 38,60 (pbk).

Etnografie is traditioneel een vorm van onderzoek waarbij de onderzoeker herhaaldelijk, langdurig en intensief contact maakt met de onderzochten, en waarbij hun groepsleven, hun 'cultuur', het onderwerp is. In de oudere antropologie ging de onderzoeker voor langere tijd wonen bij de stam die hij of zij onderzocht. Men probeerde de taal te leren, niet alleen de grammatica en het lexicon, maar ook de semantiek en de metaforiek. Dat deed men via 'participerende observatie', bekijken wat mensen doen en daarover veel met ze praten. De laatste tientallen jaren zijn er allerlei variaties op die basisvorm ontwikkeld. Het 'wonen bij' wordt vaak vervangen door herhaaldelijk langskomen. Wat wordt onderzocht is vaak een subcultuur binnen de eigen globale cultuur. Dat kan een criminele leefwijze zijn of een beroepsmatig gespecialiseerde activiteit; er zijn allerlei mogelijkheden. Een van die nieuwere vormen van etnografie begint bekend te worden onder de naam 'internetetnografie', of varianten daarvan zoals online ethnography, of virtual ethnography.

Problems of evidence in ethnography: A methodological exploration of the Goffman and Mead controversies
Ethnographic authority in the post-truth era is contested and the discussion revolves around the credibility of ethnographic evidence. Doubting ethnographic evidence is usually explained as the consequence of postmodern relativism coupled to political opportunism and the social impact of the Internet. This article argues, however, that evidence in ethnography comprises a much older, unresolved methodological problem. That is because: (1) the ethnographers' unique observations are difficult to marry to the scientific ideal of replication and what other tests are then available to support direct observation? (2) social proximity to the community one studies is essential for making direct observations and how does that correspond to the ideal of outsider verification? (3) when reporting ethnographic thick description in a credible way, facts are considered central but is it possible to write on ethnography in an interesting way without resorting to the instruments of fiction? These methodological challenges are further explored in a comparative discussion of two ethnographic controversies – Margaret Mead's Coming of age in Samoa (1973) and Alice Goffman's On the run: Fugitive life in an American city (2014). I conclude with a proposal for methodological rules of thumb for conducting ethnographic research in the 21st century in a way that is (hopefully) both effective and convincing.
In a short reaction Fred Wester defines scientific facts (including ethnographic facts) are produced by scientific procedures. Scientific observations have a conceptual and methodical context. In Beuvings discussions the conceptual ground of ethnographic observations are hardly discussed and his definition of replication is too limited as method for qualitative research.

Under the surface of everyday care. On the development of an underwater screen, an
instrument that identifies institutional influences on the everyday care
relationship
Under the surface of everyday care. On the development of an underwater screen, an
instrument that identifies institutional influences on the everyday care
relationship
In our qualitative research project we look at the everyday interactions between
young people with a mild intellectual disability and their caregivers, and we are
interested in the institutional impact on the everyday dealings. We have developed an
analysis tool that helps to identify these institutional influences. In addition, we
have used the research methodology institutional ethnography. This tool also offers
opportunities for other areas of research, because it sensitizes the researchers for
the ruling relations that shape the everyday interaction between people.