Critical ethnography applies a

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from s ...

based approach to

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

. It focuses on the implicit values expressed within ethnographic studies and, therefore, on the unacknowledged biases that may result from such implicit values.Soyini Madison, D. (2005). Critical ethnography: method, ethics, and performance. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/4957_Madison_I_Proof_Chapter_1.pdf It has been called critical theory in practice.Thomas, J. (1993). Doing critical ethnography. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. In the spirit of critical theory, this approach seeks to determine symbolic mechanisms, to extract ideology from action, and to understand the cognition and behaviour of research subjects within historical, cultural, and social frameworks. Critical ethnography incorporates reflexive inquiry into its methodology. Researchers employing this approach position themselves as being intrinsically linked to those being studied and thus inseparable from their context.Simon, R. I., & Dippo, D. (1986). On critical ethnographic work. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 17(4), 195-202. In addition to speaking on behalf of subjects, critical ethnographers will also attempt to recognize and articulate their own perspective as a means of acknowledging the biases that their own limitations, histories, and institutional standpoints bear on their work. Further, critical ethnography is inherently political as well as pedagogical in its approach. There is no attempt to be purely detached and scientifically objective in reporting and analysis. In contrast to conventional ethnography which describes what is, critical ethnography also asks what could be in order to disrupt tacit power relationships and perceived social inequalities.

History

Critical ethnography stems from both

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and the Chicago school of sociology. Following the

movements for civil rights Civil rights movements are a worldwide series of political movements for equality before the law, that peaked in the 1960s. In many situations they have been characterized by nonviolent protests, or have taken the form of campaigns of civil re ...

of the 1960s and 1970s some ethnographers became more politically active and experimented in various ways to incorporate emancipatory political projects into their research.Noblit, G. W., Flores, S. Y., & Murillo, E. G. (2004). Postcritical ethnography: An introduction. Cress, NJ: Hampton Press. For example, some ethnographers with political agendas for change chose to conduct fieldwork in unconventional environments such as modern workplaces that were not necessarily considered exotic, as previous anthropologists had typically done. Other ethnographers consciously attempted to conduct research on so-called deviant or suppressed groups from outside the paradigm of hegemonic cultural positionings to provide new avenues for dissent and dialogue on societal transformation.

Notable contributors to critical ethnography

* Phil Carspecken *D. Soyini Madison *Geoffrey Walford

References

Suggested reading

*Brown, S. G., & Dobrin, S. I. (2004). ''Ethnography unbound: From theory shock to critical praxis''. Albany: State University of New York Press. *Carspecken, P. F. (1996). ''Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide''. New York: Routledge. *Carucci, Laurence M. & Michèle D. Dominy (2005). ''Anthropology in the ‘Savage Slot’: Reflections on the Epistemology of Knowledge''. ''Anthropological Forum: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology'', 15 (3). *Lederman, Rena (2005). ''Challenging Audiences: Critical Ethnography in/for Oceania''. Anthropological Forum 15 (3), November 2005, pages 319-328 *Noblit, G. W., Flores, S. Y., & Murillo, E. G. (2004). ''Postcritical ethnography: Reinscribing critique''. Cress, NJ: Hampton Press. *Simon, R. I., & Dippo, D. (1986). On critical ethnographic work. ''Anthropology & Education Quarterly'', ''17''(4), 195-202. * Young Leslie, H (2005).
Tongan Doctors and a Critical Medical Ethnography
'. Anthropological Forum 15 (3), 277-286. *Soyini Madison, D. (2005). ''Critical ethnography: method, ethics, and performance''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. *Thomas, J. (1993). ''Doing critical ethnography''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. *Walford, G. (2009). In Carspecken P. F. (Ed.), ''Critical ethnography and education''. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.

External links

*Special Issue of ''Anthropological Forum, A Journal of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology'': ''Critical Ethnography In The Pacific: Transformations In Pacific Moral Orders'

*Professor Phil Carspecken's academic homepage a
Indiana University
*Professor D. Soyini Madison's academic homepage a

*Professor Geoffrey Walford's academic homepage at th
University of Oxford
*Example of a critical ethnographic approach to modern media using longitudinal TV/media appropriation and remixes to ethnographically explicate contemporary North American culture - b
Cultural Farming
{{Ethnicity Anthropology Critical theory Ethnography

History

Notable contributors to critical ethnography

See also

References

Suggested reading

External links