Living the Ethnographic Life

Rose argues for a break with the corporate mould of ethnography to refashion it as a democratic form of thought and existence in which the ethnographer is fully engaged with the subject. He assesses the possibility of ethnography as a way of life.

Should we draw the line between going native and rethinking our ethnographic status? Rose goes beyond merely questioning the ethnographic process. Rather, he explores its origins, its current state of affairs, and proposes how ethnography can be a potent "(sub)culture" for conditioning inquiry into culture. He contends that the corporate structure limits the effectiveness of our current research and subsequent insights into the people whom we study. With a radical democratization of knowledge, decolonization of academic thought, and a move beyond abstract relations, Rose urges ethnographers to reevaluate their pursuit of ethnographic knowledge. Replete with examples from his extensive research and personal experience, Living the Ethnographic Life provides a refreshing outlook and insight into ethnographic study--a valuable resource for anyone with interests in anthropology, sociology, critical and postmodernist theory, and, of course, ethnography.