Ethnography is an international, interdisciplinary forum for the ethnographic study of social and cultural change. The journal has become the leading network for dialogical exchanges between monadic ethnographers and those from all disciplines interested and involved in ethnography and society.
There is an urgent need for the detailed and grounded empirical study of the myriad changes that are remaking the face of contemporary societies as a result of the sweeping restructuring of economy, society, culture and politics across the globe. As embedded and embodied social inquiry, the craft of ethnography is uniquely poised to fulfil this need and advance our in-depth understanding of these changes.
A major international journal successfully launched in 2000
Ethnography is a new international and interdisciplinary journal for the ethnographic study of social and cultural change. Bridging the chasm between sociology and anthropology, it is becoming the leading network for dialogical exchanges between monadic ethnographers and those from all disciplines involved and interested in ethnography and society. It seeks to promote embedded research that fuses close-up observation, rigorous theory and social critique.
The journal publishes pieces in a variety of formats and styles (ranging from analytical articles, epistemological tracts and photographic essays to experimental narratives) and is keen to broadcast work "fresh from the field", including that conducted by younger practitioners of ethnography.
An interdisciplinary approach
Ethnography addresses ethnographic findings and methods in a broad interdisciplinary understanding of culture, domination and social structure. It fosters work that pays equal attention to the minutiae of experience, the cultural texture of social relations, and to the remote structural forces and power vectors that bear on them. The journal also re-engages field-based research with larger sociopolitical projects, including the identification and formulation of the different possibilities of 'social becoming' in an era of intense change.
Fusing theory and close-up observation
Ethnography operates as an international forum for the collective development of a theoretically informed methodology for ethnography. Offering an alternative to both naturalistic qualitative research and abstract social theory, it publishes articles that stress the need for an encompassing theoretical sensibility involved in how ethnography is actually practised and written.
Special features
Ethnography publishes papers in a wider variety of formats, genres, and styles than any comparable journal in order to give free rein and full bloom to the ethnographic imagination. In addition to standard research articles, it includes the following rubrics:
"Tales from the Field": experimental or narrative pieces that take the reader into a particular social world and convey the 'feel' of an event, relation, situation, place, or phenomenon through depictive techniques and textual devices that foreground lived experience and carnal presence
"Field for Thought": a forum for provocative ideas, pointed polemics, short papers and vigorous interventions that do not usually appear in polished scholarly format and lend themselves to fruitful debate
"Ethnography's Kitchen": a 'how-to' section featuring critical reflections on the practice of fieldwork designed to foster reflexivity in ethnography so as to clarify and bolster the standards of the craft
Thematic Issues: examining topics of wide scholarly as well as civic interest that bring together inquirers from several disciplines who do not normally engage each other. The first two special issues dealt with "Global Ethnography" (guest edited by Michael Burawoy) and "Dissecting the Prison"; the next two will address "Pierre Bourdieu in the Field" and "Phenomenology in Ethnography" (guest edited by Tom Csordas and Jack Katz).
Unrivalled international breadth and scope
Edited by leaders in the field, with a distinguished editorial board that includes active field workers from all over the world, and the entire spectrum of disciplines concerned with culture and society, Ethnography offers unrivalled international scope. It is essential reading for all those interested in ethnographic work, particularly practising ethnographers.
Electronic Access:
Ethnography is available electronically on SAGE Journals Online at http://eth.sagepub.com
SAGE Full-Text Collections
This journal is included in the Sociology: SAGE Full-Text Collection. Visit www.sagefulltext.com for more information.
