400011 SE Ethnographische Methoden/Ethnographic Methods (2019W)

Ethnography denotes an open style of research with a strength in development of concepts and theorizing. Ethnographic research usually concentrates upon an understanding of local sense making and the construction of meaning in everyday life. Such complex implicit and embodied knowledge cannot be gathered through interviews alone, and ethnography is especially well placed to study emerging social fields and tacit forms of knowledge.
Therefore and despite usually consisting of a bundle of data gathering tools during field research, participant observation builds its methodological center piece. Depending on the field which is understood to be an ever self-generating and structuring phenomenon ethnographers seek to follow categories and processes in their travel across multiple dimensions.
The seminar aims at demonstrating the potential of ethnographic methods with a focus on their contribution to theory. The interests and research projects of the participants form the starting point of the seminar. Therefore, readings (methodological texts and selected ethnographic studies) will be determined jointly at the beginning of the term.