Doing Ethnography with the Stompers

Abstract

So far in this book, the Sapphic Stomper women have been introduced as a group who regularly got together for hikes in the countryside, and who identified as lesbians. It has been mentioned that the data which features in later chapters was acquired through an ethnographic methodology, and that I myself became a member of the group in order to best interpret that data. Yet the process of ethnography itself — the ‘integration of both first-hand empirical investigation and the theoretical and comparative interpretation of social organisation and culture’ (Hammersley and Atkinson 1995: 1) — has not been explicated, despite the central role it played in both the collection and analysis of this data. This chapter is dedicated to outlining this process, and does so with three aims. Firstly, by providing an account of the ethnographic process, I hope to enhance the reader’s understanding of the context in which the Stompers interacted. In doing so, the significance of their unique relationships with one another and with the broader sociocultural context will be foregrounded, enabling a more nuanced interpretation of the analyses which follow. The second aim of this chapter is to demonstrate why ethnography is so crucial to work such as this, both by providing the context which will enhance readings of the later chapters, but also by outlining the theoretical development of the methodology in order to advocate its use for sociocultural linguistic studies. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I hope that this chapter is of practical use to those embarking on this type of research for the first time. My experiences of fieldwork are laid bare here, and I hope that the honest portrayal of my encounters during this process — including accounts of hurdles that had to be overcome — will be of use to those critically assessing or planning their own ethnographic methodology.