Publication date:
28 June 2010Publisher
Multilingual MattersDimensions:
210x148mm6x8"
ISBN-13: 9781847692955
Ethnographic fieldwork is something which is often presented as mysterious and inexplicable. How do we know certain things after having done fieldwork? Are we sure we know? And what exactly do we know? This book describes ethnographic fieldwork as the gradual accumulation of knowledge about something you don’t know much about. We start from ignorance and gradually move towards knowledge, on the basis of practices for which we have theoretical and methodological motivations. Jan Blommaert and Dong Jie draw on their own experiences as fieldworkers in explaining the complexities of ethnographic fieldwork as a knowledge trajectory. They do so in an easily accessible way that makes these complexities easier to understand and to handle before, during and after fieldwork.
This immensely accessible and readable book engages the reader from beginning to end in a style which is informal, informative and intellectually fulfilling. Ethnography is presented as a democratic process, open to multiple and layered interpretations, recording uniquely situated realities through specialised analysis. Blommaert and Dong offer invaluable practical advice, guiding the reader through the sequences of the ethnographic research process. They successfully illustrate the fundamentals of ethnographic fieldwork, while presenting a set of splendid resources for both the beginner researcher and the experienced ethnographer.