Naked Fieldnotes
A Rough Guide to Ethnographic Writing
2023
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Creative and diverse approaches to ethnographic knowledge production and writing
Unlocking the experience of conducting qualitative research, Naked Fieldnotes pairs fieldnotes based on observations, interviews, and other contemporary modes of recording research encounters with short, reflective essays, offering rich examples of how fieldnotes are shaped by research experiences. By granting access to these personal archives, the contributors unsettle taboos about the privacy of ethnographic writing and give scholars a diverse, multimodal approach to conceptualizing and doing ethnographic fieldwork.
Ethnographic research has long been cloaked in mystery around what fieldwork is really like for researchers, how they collect data, and how it is analyzed within the social sciences. Naked Fieldnotes, a unique compendium of actual fieldnotes from contemporary ethnographic researchers from various modalities and research traditions, unpacks how this research works, its challenges and its possibilities.
The volume pairs fieldnotes based on observations, interviews, drawings, photographs, soundscapes, and other contemporary modes of recording research encounters with short, reflective essays, offering rich examples of how fieldnotes are composed and shaped by research experiences. These essays unlock the experience of conducting qualitative research in the social sciences, providing clear examples of the benefits and difficulties of ethnographic research and how it differs from other forms of writing such as reporting and travelogue. By granting access to these personal archives, Naked Fieldnotes unsettles taboos about the privacy of ethnographic writing and gives scholars a diverse, multimodal approach to conceptualizing and doing ethnographic fieldwork.
Contributors: Courtney Addison, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria U of Wellington; Patricia Alvarez Astacio, Brandeis U; Sareeta Amrute, The New School; Barbara Andersen, Massey U Auckland, New Zealand; Adia Benton, Northwestern U; Letizia Bonanno, U of Kent; Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier, U of Victoria; Michael Cepek, U of Texas at San Antonio; Michelle Charette, York U; Tomás Criado, Humboldt-U of Berlin; John Dale, George Mason U; Elsa Fan, Webster U; Kelly Fayard, U of Denver; Michele Friedner, U of Chicago; Susan Frohlick, U of British Columbia, Okanagan, Syilx Territory; Angela Garcia, Stanford U; Danielle Gendron, U of British Columbia; Mascha Gugganig, Technical U Munich; Natalia Gutkowski, Hebrew U of Jerusalem; T. S. Harvey, Vanderbilt U; Saida Hodžić, Cornell U; K. G. Hutchins, Oberlin College; Basit Kareem Iqbal, McMaster U; Emma Kowal, Deakin U in Melbourne; Mathangi Krishnamurthy, IIT Madras; Shyam Kunwar; Margaret MacDonald, York U in Toronto; Stephanie McCallum, U Nacional de San Martín and U de San Andrés, Argentina; Diana Ojeda, Cider, U de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia; Valerie Olson, U of California, Irvine; Patrick Mbullo Owuor, Northwestern U; Stacy Leigh Pigg, Fraser U; Jason Pine, Purchase College, State U of New York; Chiara Pussetti, U of Lisbon; Tom Rice, U of Exeter; Leslie A. Robertson, U of British Columbia, Vancouver; Yana Stainova, McMaster U; Richard Vokes, U of Western Australia; Russell Westhaver, Saint Mary’s U in Nova Scotia; Paul White, U of Nevada, Reno.
Contents
A Brief History of the Ethnographic Fieldnote and Its Possible Futures
Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer and Denielle Elliott
Fieldnote Confessions
Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer and Denielle Elliott
Curator’s Note
Michelle Charette
Reading Strategies
Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer and Denielle Elliott
1. Wellington, Community Pharmacy, Care, 2021 {~?~TN: Book p. 1 here}
Courtney Addison
2. Peru, Textile Practices, Multimedia, 2011
Patricia Alvarez Astacio
3. Seattle, Dispossession, Sensing Hate, 2016
Sareeta Amrute
4. Papua New Guinea, Nursing College, Lectures and Pedagogy, 2012
Barbara Andersen
5. Atlanta, Ebola Epidemic, Institutional Memory, 2017
Adia Benton
6. Athens, Irony, Drawing, 2015–2017
Letizia Bonanno
7. Cuba, Traces of Life, Embodied Experiences, 2004–2018
Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier
8. Ecuador, Shamanism, History and Violence, 2019
Michael Cepek
9. Munich, Blind Activism, Participatory Urban Design, November 2015
Tomás Criado
10. Myanmar, Pro-Democracy Movement, Collective Violence, 1998
John Dale
11. Beijing, Evolving HIV, Delivering Care, 2011
Elsa Fan
12. Alabama, Tribal Council Debates, Indian Reservation, Undated
Kelly Fayard
13. Tamil Nadu, Oral Deaf Early Intervention Center, Scripted Listening, 2018
Michele Friedner
14. Costa Rica, Youthhood, Tourism Intimacies, 2015
Susan Frohlick
15. Mexico City, Anexos, the Senses, 2013
Angela Garcia
16. Georgian Bay, Waterscape Views, Unceded Lands, 2021
Danielle Gendron
17. Brussels, Food Innovation Workshop, 2019
Mascha Gugganig
18. Israel/Palestine, Cultivating Indigeneity, Producing Time, 2013
Natalia Gutkowski
19. United States–Mexico, Anthropology between Race and the “Willing Suspension of Disbelief,” Undated
T. S. Harvey
20. San Francisco Presidio, Refusing Invasion, Amnesty International, the Beginning of the War on Terror, 2001
Saida Hodžić
21. Mongolia, Musical Heritage, Wild Horses, 2016–2018
K. G. Hutchins
22. Jordan, Orphanage for Syrian Families, Cruelty, 2018
Basit Kareem Iqbal
23. New South Wales, Genetic Samples, Indigeneity, 2007
Emma Kowal
24. Pune, Call Centers, Globalization, 2006
Mathangi Krishnamurthy
25. Senegal, Cell Phones, Maternal Health, 2018
Margaret MacDonald
26. Buenos Aires, Railroad Infrastructure, Precarity, 2013
Stephanie McCallum
27. Colombia, Neoliberal Conservation, Political Violence, 2009–2010
Diana Ojeda
28. Gulf of Mexico, Oil Spill, Environment, Industry, 2011
Valerie Olson
29. Kenya, Dams, Flows, Displacement, 2019
Patrick Mbullo Owuor
30. Nepal, Roads, Mobility, Graphic Ethnography, 2018
Stacy Leigh Pigg and Shyam Kunwar
31. Mælifellshnjúkur, Iceland, Moss, Life, 2017
Jason Pine
32. Lisbon, Fuckin’ Perfect? The Politics of Desirability, 2019–2021
Chiara Pussetti
33. Paignton and Bristol Zoos, Listening to the Zoo Project, 2019
Tom Rice
34. North America, Intermountain West, Coexistence, Religion, 1992
Leslie A. Robertson
35. Venezuela, Returning Home, Music, 2013
Yana Stainova
36. Antarctica, Scott Base, Sociality and Extremes, 2017
Richard Vokes
37. Vancouver, Circuit Parties, Gay Men, 2000
Russell Westhaver
38. Alaska, Gold Mining, Archaeology of Work, 2015
Paul White
Contributors
