Abstract
No matter the combination of methods ethnographers bring to their research design and to participant observation, our pursuit to log, interpret, analyse and present the lives of those we meet is never an entirely intellectual or objective one. Ethnographic fieldwork is intimately sensory (Pink, Doing sensory ethnography, Sage, London, 2015), invokes our imagination (Sparkes, Qualitative research in sport and exercise, 1:21–35, 2009) and requires us to actively navigate social landscapes (Hammersley and Atkinson, Field relations. Ethnography: Principles in practice, Routledge, Stoodleigh, 2007). There is a tendency for these elements to fade in terms of visibility and immediacy within the research process. For those in accord with (Davies, Reflexive ethnography: A guide to researching selves and others, Routledge, New York, 2008), continuous reflexive labour becomes a core praxis to monitor the ways we observe and participate in this textured environment. Without this, we are left in the dark and are less able to see how we can (or should) respond to the nitty–gritty qualitative nature of ethnography. In this Chapter, two of methodological vignettes will act as entry points to unpack a set of tensions that commanded my attention during an eighteen months ethnography in Higher Education. ‘You Look Like an Ivory Tower Student’, for example, begins to troubleshoot ethnographic participation within educational environments. ‘Going Dark’, on the other hand, problematises the prioritisation of visual observations that are implicit in ethnographic tradition. Throughout these discussions a metaphor of being lured into darkness is offered as a productive orientation for ethnography.
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Notes
- 1.
Indeed, the earliest anthropological/colonial missions, through which the practice of ethnography was formed, was predicated on a desire of the researcher to step beyond their native customs and better understand new exotic pastures (Davies 2008). This might be less common or even possible within educational ethnography nowadays for a number of reasons (Hammersley 2017). Whilst I guard against nostalgic visions of these early anthropological expeditions and repel the way in which they ingrained a damaging ‘ethics of the other’, I retain that there was, for me, a deeply embodied attractiveness to step into an unknown.
- 2.
This recognition has additional millage beyond typical theoretical grounds for sensory and embodied scholarship that is usually heavily influenced by phenomenology. For example, Latour (2005) suggested that ‘the social’ only becomes visible when associations are being made (by humans). The full repertoire of these connections pass through the sensory domain outlined here, inclusive of the other senses.
- 3.
Ivory Tower was a highly prestigious Russell Group University within miles of this site, City University.
- 4.
Clear examples of this include: a researcher will never have the same stakes invested in the activities; and ethically it is problematic to participate in group work that funnels towards formal assessments.
- 5.
Typically our eyes have approximately 126 million light sensitive cells but this means little during a blackout. Given the correct architecture and elimination of background artificial lighting (e.g. fire escape routes, mobile screen phones and so on) it seems impossible to see others, even as silhouettes. It is also true that when a room is full of bodies there can never no light at all because human bodies emit light. Bodies however shine at a level far below visual perception—yet a portion developed through this Chapter is that if one observes closely (with all their senses) they will not be blind.
- 6.
Being there resonates with the concept of presence that has become a focus for many contemporary artists and ethnographers alike. In discussing “the presence not the absence of the ethnographer” Stoller (1997) argued that “ethnographers open themselves up to others and absorb their worlds.” (p. 23). Also, presence was a powerful guiding concept for at least one student, Gabby, who in interviews was keen to teach me about Rodenburg’s ‘three circles of presence’ and how this is key to unlocking her potential as a PA.
- 7.
Howes and Classen (2013) attribute this to scholastic traditions that build upon the en-light-enment of Western rationality. This, they argue, has seen researchers taking artefacts and placing them in museums of ethnography, suspending them for visual gaze in the light of the gallery.
- 8.
An excerpt of Welton’s experiences: “The actors move us. At some point I feel someone brush my shoulder, and the effect is chilling. Far from feeling safe, cocooned in the darkness, I suddenly feel afraid. I am now conscious not just of the soundscapes, or the unfolding story, but also the extent to which we are surrounded by action” (2007, p. 148).
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Barker, N. (2020). An Ethnographer Lured into Darkness. In: Wieser, C., Pilch Ortega, A. (eds) Ethnography in Higher Education. Doing Higher Education. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30381-5_10
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