weaving ethnography/art

In response to the issue of artists doing ethnography , I summarise here three issues of relevance that result from my reading of Cinzia and Lili stimulating posts:

-data collection
As stated by Cinzia, “artists’ methods do not often include ‘collecting data’ as such. My practice in particular is not focused onto observing a subject, but on acting as one and interacting with other subjects.”
A relevant point, however practice based art research, is frequently developed from evidence – the art work as a collection of evidence (of a research question, an exploration, etc), and often the academic discourse surrounding it builds up on such empirical mode, thus the need to understand ethnographic methodologies;

-eclecticism
As Lili writes, “Concerning my practice, theory and knowledge actually emerge from my own investigation. First I move rather intuitively, I follow an ‘image’ that leads me to another stage, and so forth, until I find myself in a place where I can see more clearly.”
It is fine to mix and match the methodologies that are relevant to your practice, as grounded theory and actor-network-theory assert, thus the interest of these two approaches to art-based research practice. For me the interest in stating your methodology in reference to these approaches is that you assert your position, a major tenet in critical reflection as it situates you in the academic discourse;

-participant-observation
In the wide spectrum of participant-observation –from no immersion to total immersion if the subject of study, autoethnography s a very interesting option if you intend to account for your presence in the field of research. It is now widely used in qualitative studies pertaining to new media studies, particularly involving the area of sociable media.

As an introduction to this week’s session I would like to recommend we focus on the readings pertaining to our practice.

For Cinzia, I would suggest the works you mention in your comment:

José Esteban Muñoz: Disidentifications

chpt 3: Porn Punk and Ethnography (autoethnography, pornography, Asian)

C Hansen, C Needham and B Nichols Pornography, Ethnography and the Discourses of Power, in B Nichols Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary, 1992, Indiana University Press

For Lili, I would concentrate on the area we outlined in our last meeting, on  the virtual:  image,  culture :

Boellstorff, T. 2008  Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human

Princeton University Press

The Subject and Scope of This Inquiry: Arrivals and departures—Everyday Second Life—Terms of discussion—The emergence of virtual worlds—The posthuman and the human—What this, a book, does.

Prehistories of the virtual–Histories of virtual technology–A personal virtual history–Histories of virtual worlds–Histories of cybersociality research–Techne.

Please, outline the main concepts that ressonate with your project and present them in class for debate. Thank you! paula

Filed under: paula roush, visual methodologies

art-ethnographic

Throughout our discussion on ethnographic methods and art practice we discussed David Morley’s 2006 book Visions of the Real chapter The ethnographic arts, against the background of Hal Foster’s 1996 book Return of the Real and the chapter The artist as ethnographer. We outlined some of the conditions of an ethnographic art practice, becoming evident that critical reflexivity is a major issue. In artistic terms, this may mean totally pushing the boundaries of established conventions pertaining to the evidence provided by the document. Morley is really good at identifying the disruptive use of fiction introduced by artists in their ethnographic methodologies.

However we still face the question of how to apply these methodologies derived from social and cultural theory to art practice, so it may be productive to wrap up the debate by comparing the ethnographic method with the tenets of the grounded theory.

Task: Read Genzuk’s synthesis of ethnographic research and Dick’s grounded theory: a thumbnail sketch (identified with action-research), both developed from within the context of social sciences. Compare these approaches and outline 3 ways of working that you can draw from their methodologies to develop your project.

The research processes you have learned and the thesis structures you have internalised are those of hypothesis testing, not of emergence. Doing grounded theory well is partly a matter of unlearning some of what you have been taught or have acquired through your reading…In particular, the place of literature is quite different. So is the way in which both methodology and theory develop gradually as data and interpretations accumulate…Grounded theory has its own sources of rigour. It is responsive to the situation in which the research is done. There is a continuing search for evidence which disconfirms the emerging theory. It is driven by the data in such a way that the final shape of the theory is likely to provide a good fit to the situation…In fact, Glaser suggests two main criteria for judging the adequacy of the emerging theory: that it fits the situation; and that it works — that it helps the people in the situation to make sense of their experience and to manage the situation better.[ grounded theory: a thumbnail sketch]

Respond: In this blog, follow your classmates posts and choose one to leave a comment.

Timeline: Monday, February 2nd (task), Wednesday, February 4th (respond).

Thank you!

Filed under: paula roush, visual methodologies