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作者

来源

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ETHNOGRAPHY,Vol.47,Issue6SI,P.807-833

语言

英文

关键字

ethnography; methodological impression management; fieldwork; WORK; DECEPTION; FIELDWORK; DILEMMAS; LABOR

作者单位

[Gengler, Amanda M.] Wake Forest Univ, Sociol, Winston Salem, NC 27109 USA. [Ezzell, Matthew B.] James Madison Univ, Sociol, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 USA. Ezzell, MB (reprint author), James Madison Univ, 800 S Main St,MSC 7501,Sheldon Hall, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 USA. E-Mail: ezzellmb@jmu.edu

摘要

In this article, we contend that turning a sharp dramaturgical lens on the dynamics of fieldwork clarifies a number of longstanding ethical challenges in ethnography-challenges that have shifted and deepened in the new technological landscape in which ethnographers work. We encourage fieldworkers to adopt an intentional approach to what we call methodological impression management to navigate the research process more strategically. Drawing on our experiences conducting fieldwork in settings where some of our research participants had power over others (a women's shelter and a substance abuse treatment program), we delineate the strategies we found useful for successful methodological impression management in complex settings and point to the dramaturgical underpinnings of their effectiveness. By bringing dramaturgical theory into direct conversation with the literature on ethnographic methods, we hope to illuminate a path through which ethnographers might make more deliberative methodological decisions and thoughtfully balance ethical responsibilities to their participants with their commitment to analytic rigor.