Keynote Address. Tales From the Field: Reflections on Four Decades of Ethnography

Patricia A. Adler; Peter Adler

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.8.1.02

Authors

Patricia A. Adler University of Colorado, U.S.A.
Peter Adler University of Denver, U.S.A.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.8.1.02

Keywords:

Ethnography, Epistemology, Ethics, Cyber-Ethnography, Qualitative Research, Self-Injury, Deviance, Sport, Socialization, Youth

Abstract

Drawing on careers spanning over 35 years in the field of ethnography, we reflect on the research in which we’ve engaged and how the practice and epistemology of ethnography has evolved over this period. We begin by addressing the problematic nature of ethical issues in conducting qualitative research, highlighting the non-uniform nature of standards, the difficulty of applying mainstream or medical criteria to field research, and the issues raised by the new area of cyber research, drawing particularly on our recent cyberethnography of self-injury. We then discuss the challenge of engagement, highlighting pulls that draw ethnographers between the ideals of involvement and objectivity. Finally, we address the challenges and changing landscapes of qualitative analysis, and how its practice and legitimation are impacted by contemporary trends in sociology. We conclude by discussing how epistemological decisions in the field of qualitative research are framed in political, ethical, and disciplinary struggles over disciplinary hegemony

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Author Biographies

Patricia A. Adler, University of Colorado, U.S.A.

Patricia A. Adler is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her areas of interest are qualitative methods, deviant behavior, and symbolic interactionism. Her book, Wheeling and Dealing, a study of upper- level drug dealers and smugglers, is now considered a classic in the field.
Peter Adler, University of Denver, U.S.A.

Peter Adler is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Denver. His areas of interest are sociology of sport, sociology of drugs, and qualitative methods. He has written numerous books, most of them with Patti Adler. Their most recent one is The Tender Cut, a study of people who self-injure.

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