Contours of Culture: Complex Ethnography and the Ethnography of Complexity

by Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont, William Housley

Overview

In Contours of Culture the authors discuss the uses of various ethnographic methods in the study of culture, drawing on their field research with an opera company, Welsh artists, and classes on the popular Brazilian martial art capoeira. In their practical research and in the research of other scolars, they encounter complex problems and themes that often require new ways of organizing and conceiving cultural material, and even new ways of giving expression to phenomena that are only partially understood. This book is not only about the inherent complexities involved in ethnography; it is also about the kinds of opportunities available to researchers immersed in this complexity and how they might grasp cultural settings in their entirety.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759107069
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/24/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Paul Atkinson is Distinguished Research Professor in sociology at Cardiff University, in Wales. Sara Delamont is a reader in sociology at Cardiff University. William Housley is a lecturer in sociology at Cardiff University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Contours of Ethnography
Chapter 2 Ethnographic Research: Unity and Diversity
Chapter 3 Discourse and Social Interaction
Chapter 4 Narratives and Other Stories
5 Materials and Traces
6 Places, Spaces, and Timescapes
7 Visual and Sensory Cultures
Chapter 8 Complex Ethnography, Ethnography of Complexity

Editorial Reviews

The authors present a passionate, well-reasoned, and well-written call for a return to an admittedly 'old-fashioned' form of ethnography....Highly recommended.

November 2008 Choice Reviews

This is a powerful book, compelling in detail, vision, and grasp of the contemporary landscape in ethnographic research. The authors steer the field back to foundational moorings, to the careful ethnographic study of the multiple forms of daily life, including discourse, social interaction, narratives, stories, places, and spaces. We've long needed a book like this. In its passionate call for a return to foundations, it represents cutting-edge new directions in qualitative inquiry.--Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Atkinson, Delamont and Housley's richly detailed and elegantly written plea challenges ethnographers to overcome what they see as the fragmentation of qualitative research to interpret the complexities of ordered social life. The authors call for attention to talk; narrative; physical and material things; places; space and time; and the visual and sensory aspects of social life--not as separate analytic enterprises, but as a fully sustained engagement with and examination of everyday social life in a given social world.--Virginia Olesen, University of California, San Francisco

The authors present a passionate, well-reasoned, and well-written call for a return to an admittedly 'old-fashioned' form of ethnography....Highly recommended.--CHOICE, November 2008

From the Publisher

The authors present a passionate, well-reasoned, and well-written call for a return to an admittedly 'old-fashioned' form of ethnography....Highly recommended.

November 2008 CHOICE

Atkinson, Delamont and Housley's richly detailed and elegantly written plea challenges ethnographers to overcome what they see as the fragmentation of qualitative research to interpret the complexities of ordered social life. The authors call for attention to talk; narrative; physical and material things; places; space and time; and the visual and sensory aspects of social life—not as separate analytic enterprises, but as a fully sustained engagement with and examination of everyday social life in a given social world.

Virginia Olesen

This is a powerful book, compelling in detail, vision, and grasp of the contemporary landscape in ethnographic research. The authors steer the field back to foundational moorings, to the careful ethnographic study of the multiple forms of daily life, including discourse, social interaction, narratives, stories, places, and spaces. We've long needed a book like this. In its passionate call for a return to foundations, it represents cutting-edge new directions in qualitative inquiry.

Norman K. Denzin

In Contours of Culture, Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont, and William Housley provide a ringing defense of the traditions and justifications of classic ethnography. In their persuasive argument, even complex societies can be uncovered and interpreted through a realist perspective, recognizing the power of the involved and thoughtful observer. By examining discourse, narrative, objects, space, time, and sensory stimuli, the distinguished authors demonstrate that the complexity of social scenes deserves an ethnographic treatment of equal subtlety and depth.

Gary Alan Fine

The authors present a passionate, well-reasoned, and well-written call for a return to an admittedly 'old-fashioned' form of ethnography....Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

The authors present a passionate, well-reasoned, and well-written call for a return to an admittedly 'old-fashioned' form of ethnography....Highly recommended.

November 2008 Choice