Contours of culture : complex ethnography and the ethnography of complexity / Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont, and William Housley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Atkinson, Paul, 1947-

Contributor:

Delamont, Sara, 1947-

Housley, William, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Research--Methodology.

Ethnology.

Ethnology--Fieldwork.

Physical Description:

vii, 260 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Walnut Creek, [CA] : AltaMira Press, [2008]

Summary:

In Contours of Culture, the authors discuss the uses of various ethnographic methods in the study of culture, drawing on their field research with an opera company, Welsh artists, and classes on the popular Brazilian martial art capoeira. In their practical research and in the research of other scholars, they encounter complex problems and themes that often require new ways of organizing and conceiving cultural material, and even new ways of giving expression to phenomena that are only partially understood. This book is not only about the inherent complexities involved in ethnography, it is also about the kinds of opportunities available to researchers immersed in this complexity and how they might grasp cultural settings in their entirety.

Contents:

Contours of ethnography

Ethnographic research : unity and diversity

Discourse and social interaction

Narratives and other stories

Materials and traces

Places, spaces, and timescapes

Visual and sensory cultures

Complex ethnography, ethnography of complexity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-244) and index.

ISBN:

9780759107052

075910705X

9780759107069

0759107068

OCLC:

145146746