IQMR 2025

Ethnographic Methods (Modules 20, 24, 28)

Monday, June 23; Tuesday, June 24; Wednesday, June 25

Professor Kanisha D. Bond (SUNY Binghamton), Sarah E. Parkinson (Johns Hopkins University)

How can ethnographic methods inform the study of politics? The immersive, meaning-centric, everyday-life focus that ethnographic methods offer affords social scientists insight into processes, practices, and understandings of political worlds that might otherwise remain hidden or obscure. Sometimes portrayed as “a craft” rather than “a method” or caricatured as “just hanging out,” the research approaches we explore in the Ethnographic Methods sequence explore ethnography’s immense potential in the study of power and politics. It addresses questions such as: What commitments does an ethnographic researcher make to herself, her interlocutors, the communities she studies, and to the discipline? What are the various ways in which a researcher can situate herself in a research practice where she is fundamentally the instrument? How does a researcher develop a robust ethnographic approach to a project, whether in the pursuit of writing an ethnography or as part of a multi-method endeavor? What types of data or evidence do those leveraging ethnographic methods generate, through which methods, and how do they analyse them? How have ethnographers challenged, expanded, and innovated upon the presumed fundamentals of ethnography?

Participants may enter the module sequence after it has begun.

Preparation (required):

Before coming to IQMR, spend at least four hours intentionally observing and/or participating in, and then reflecting on a community, group, space, place, behavior, or cultural practice. Take detailed notes on what you observe and what you experience. Feel free to explore any overarching patterns, themes, hypotheses, or understandings that emerge over the course of your notes.

Ethnographic Methods I: The “Political” in Political Ethnography (M20, June 23)

8:45am - 10:15am – Introduction to Ethnography and Ethnographic Methods

Summary: This session covers the essential ontological, epistemological, and methodological basics of ethnography in political science research. We will answer questions such as: What is the difference between ethnography and ethnographic methods? What are the core elements and assumptions of ethnography and ethnographic research? What sorts of research questions and goals might ethnographic research be useful for answering/exploring?

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1:30pm - 3:00pm – The researcher as the instrument: Positionality, reflexivity, and ethics

Summary: This session focuses on what it means to develop an “ethnographic sensibility,” and on the centrality of recognizing, reflecting, understanding, and effectively communicating about one’s own social locations as an ongoing ethnographic practice.

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3:30pm - 5:00pm – What makes (an) ethnography political?

Summary: This session will focus on the anthropological roots of ethnography and ethnographic methods, and on some of the opportunities and challenges that accompany translating ethnography into the norms and expectations of political science. We will also consider the fundamental power dynamics inherent in ethnographic research itself, including researcher/participant relationships, the specific questions we ask, and the nuances of access.

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Ethnographic Methods II: Design, Technique, and Practice (M24, June 24)

8:45am – 10:15am – Siting ethnography and ethnographic work

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1:30pm - 3:00pm – On the Ground: (Participant) Observation in (Collective) Action

Summary: Drawing on ethnographic work on collective action and protest, the instructors will walk students through various approaches to on-the-ground (participant) observation. How have scholars approached (participant) observation in protests and regarding collective action? Students will then be asked to continue analysis of their own preparatory work, considering questions such as: What is the relationship between space, place, and action in your research site? How would you describe your observation “style”? Did your presence influence what and how you observe, or in what and how you participated?

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3:30pm - 5:00pm – What does it all mean? Forms of ethnographic data/evidence

Summary: This session will survey the various forms of ethnographic evidence/data, and provide an introduction to the basics of writing about ethnographic research. Students will consider the imperatives of observation, collection of human artifacts, and interpretation, as well as key differences between descriptive, reflective, and inferential writing as part of ethnography.

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Ethnographic Methods III: Innovations and Reclamations in Ethnographic Methods (M28, June 25)

8:45am – 10:15am – Placing ethnography: Designing multi-method(ological) projects

Summary: This session addresses the potential and potential pitfalls of leveraging ethnographic methods in multi-method research designs. How can scholars productively incorporate ethnographic methods into multi-method and even multi-epistemological research designs? Do ethnographic methods have particular synergies or irreconcilable differences with other data-generation and analytical approaches? When can scholars invoke and how should reviewers evaluate claims that research employs participant observation, ethnographic methods, or ethnography?

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1:30pm - 3:00pm – The Two or Three Body Problem: Comparative and multi-sited ethnography

Summary: Students will discuss approaches to, challenges involved with, and benefits of comparative ethnography and ethnographic work. Where do they see the most promise for comparative ethnography? Students will then workshop their siting exercise from the previous day to make one iteration of their siting comparative or to determine that it should not be.

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3:30pm - 5:00pm – Modes of Immersion: Varieties of ethnography

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