Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance / Edition 2

by D. Soyini Madison

Overview

The revised Second Edition of Critical Ethnography guides readers through theories, methods, and ethics of ethnographic research creating a confidence to complete fieldwork while demonstrating analytical and theoretical depth. This text highlights the productive links between theory and method and how both become more valuable as they interact through fieldwork. Theoretical concepts range from queer theory, feminist theory, and critical race theory to Marxism and phenomenology. The methodological techniques range from designing and asking in-depth interview questions and developing rapport to coding and interpreting data. The various theories and methods culminate in three fictional ethnographic case studies that guide readers on how to incorporate theoretical concepts with their interpretations and data analysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412980241
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	07/13/2011
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

D. Soyini Madison (PhD 1989, Northwestern University) is professor of Performance Studies, with appointments in the Department of African American Studies and the Department of Anthropology. Professor Madison lived and worked in Ghana, as a Senior Fulbright Scholar conducting field research on the interconnections between traditional religion, political economy, and indigenous performance tactics.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Critical Ethnography: Theory and Method
Defining Terms: What Is the Critical in Critical Ethnography
Dialogue and Others
The Method and Theory Nexus
Summary
Warm-Ups
2. Methods: “Do I Really Need a Method?” A Method . . . or Deep Hanging Out?
"Who Am I?" Starting Where You Are
"Who Else Has Written About My Topic?" Being Part of an Interpretive Community
The Power of Purpose: Bracketing Your Subject
Preparing for the Field: The Research Design and Lay Summary
Interviewing and Field Techniques
Formulating Questions
Two Classic Models
Extra Tips for Formulating Questions
Memory and the Oral History Interview
Attributes of the Interviewer and Building Rapport
Coding and Logging Data
Summary
Warm-Ups
3. Three Stories: Case Studies in Critical Ethnography
Case 1: Local Activism in West Africa
Case 2: Secrets, Sexuality, and Oral History
Case 3: Community Theatre: Conflicts and Organization
Warm-Ups
4. Ethics
Ethics Is . .
Religion and Ethics
The Question of Freedom
Critical Ethnography and the Ethics of Reason, the Greater Good, and Others
Maria Lugones: Contemporary Ethics, Ethnography, and Loving Perception
Summary
Warm-Ups
5. Methods and Ethics
Codes of Ethics for Fieldwork
Extending the Codes
Warm-Ups
6. Methods and Application: Three Case Studies in Ethical Dilemmas
Case 1: Local Activism in West Africa
Case 2: Secrets of Sexuality, and Oral History
Case 3: Community Theatre: Conflicts and Organization
Warm-Ups
7. Performance Ethnography
Foundational Concepts in Performance and Social Theory
The Performance Interventions of Dwight Conquergood
Staging Ethnography and the Performance of Possibilities
AutoEthnography and/or Reflexive Ethnography
Three Examples of Critical Reflexivity in Autoethnography
Warm-Ups
8. It’s Time to Write: Writing as Performance
Getting Started: In Search of the Muse
The Anxiety of Writing: Wild Mind and Monkey Mind
Writing as Performance and Performance as Writing
Warm-Ups
9. The Case Studies
Case 1: Staging Cultural Performance
Case 2: Oral History and Performance
Case 3: The Fieldwork of Social Drama and Communitas
Warm-Ups

Editorial Reviews

"Critical Ethnography is a passionate, wise, and wonderful book – even more commanding and evocative in its second edition, which adds new research examples, emerging moments in critical autoethnographies, and perfomative writing. In Madison’s vision, doing fieldwork seeps into and stretches out the lived world that we inhabit with others, a world where our studies make a difference to do more – or less — good for participants. She tells rich and layered stories as case studies of the bodies and dialogues and situations that anchor theoretical options, ethical choices, and consequential actions. This accessible and eminently teachable text presents pragmatic advice at the same time it probes complex dilemmas in doing critical ethnography. It does not offer simple solutions and easy exits but neither does it overwhelm and paralyze. Especially, it inspires possibilities for researching, writing, and performing ethnographic knowledge that can make a better world for all. Read it if you’re new to ethnography; read it if you’re seasoned. It can make a difference. "

 

Kristen Langellier

This book is indispensable. No other book shows the essential connections between method and ethics so clearly and effectively. It is as much an essential introduction to ethnography as it is an enticing invitation to a way of being in the world with others.”

Della Pollock

D. Soyini Madison’s work is the keystone of ethical performance ethnography where all practices in the field and on the stage are grounded in enfleshed theories of embodiment. The third edition of Critical Ethnography continues this scholarly foundation by offering emergent strategies to guide us through troubling times and into spaces and places of hope and possibilities.”

Tami Spry

Critical Ethnography is, without question, the go-to guide, practically and philosophically, for anyone interested in serious discussions about ethnography's ethical, political, and epistemological implications. Madison's thoughtful and compelling book has long been central to the ways in which I work with my graduate students and undergraduates on the benefits and challenges of thinking ethnographically, and this 3rd edition makes her classic offering all the more relevant for newer audiences. I look forward to assigning it in courses!”

John L. Jackson

The latest edition of Critical Ethnography exemplifies D. Soyini Madison¹s exemplary ability to combine rigorous theorizing and principled field pragmatics. From its expansive discussions of ethics and handling difficult interviews to its deeply generative examinations of mindfulness in the field and multi-sensory storytelling using a variety of aesthetic modes, this book is an essential guide for critical interdisciplinary qualitative researchers at all levels. It is both a toolkit and an inspiration.”

Judith Hamera

This remains the book I wish I had written. It is grounded in fieldwork and theoretically inclusive from Conquergood to Turner, Spry to Schechner, Pollock to Pelias, Boal to Bakhtin, auto ethnography to critical performance ethnography. Politics, ethics, action, memory, biopolitics, performative writing, the global, inquiry as praxis, it is all here.”

Norman Denzin

"I would strongly recommend this book for use in any course that explores the role of critical analysis in research. For anthropology and gerontology students, this book thoughtfully discusses and teaches about trying to understand the meanings attributed by others in regard to their expertise."

Amy Paul-Ward