Building on the "studying up" trend in anthropology, this book offers a theoretically informed guide to ethnographic methods that is practical in its approach while reflecting the challenges and concerns of contemporary ethnography. Students draw from vignettes, all situated within North America, to learn how various methods work in the real world. Practicing ethnography in a contemporary context that is familiar to students allows them to engage in experiential learning that will not only build useful research, organizing, and writing skills, but which will also link to important theoretical concepts in anthropology and the social sciences. The book emphasizes an inductive, ethnographic approach to research. Each chapter offers an overview of a particular method, methodological issue, or research trend, followed by an extended ethnographic vignette by a contemporary anthropologist about their fieldwork experiences. These highly readable vignettes, written exclusively for this volume, showcase how ethnography informs contemporary anthropological theory.
They offer a unique way to discuss major concepts, methods and methodologies, and encourage students to practice what they have learned in their own ethnographic projects.