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Thinking Ethnographically
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Thinking Ethnographically

First Edition


June 2017 | 216 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

Written by a leading authority, this book discusses a wide range of analytic ideas that can and should inform ethnographic analysis. In introducing the notion of ‘granular ethnography’ it argues for an approach to qualitative research that is sensitive to the complexities of everyday social life.

A much-needed antidote to superficial research and analysis, the text deals not merely with the practical methods of fieldwork, but with the far more ambitious enterprise of turning ethnographic data into productive ideas and concepts. Paul Atkinson enables us not merely to do ethnography, but truly to think ethnographically. His book will prove invaluable to students and researchers across the social sciences.

 
Introduction: Granular ethnography
 
Defining social reality
 
Encounters
 
Language and performance
 
Identities
 
Knowledge and reason
 
Senses, places and things
 
Time and Memory

This brilliant new book by Paul Atkinson offers scholars and students alike foundational insights on how to conduct ethnography based on granular analysis, that is work that traces the grain of everyday life. This book has a  commanding grasp of the many traditions that define contemporary ethnographic inquiry.  It  will define ethnographic inquiry for the next decade. For this we are in Atkinson's  debt.

Norman K. Denzin
University of Illinois

‘A deceptively simple tour de force by a master of ethnography. An essential text for all students and teachers of the method’s theory and practice.’

Tia De Nora
University of Exeter

A masterclass by a master ethnographer on how to make sense of qualitative data.

Stefan Timmermans
UCLA

A vital contribution. And all the more timely, given the continuing explosion of qualitative and ethnographic research.

Sam Hillyard
Durham University

Sample Materials & Chapters

Thinking Ethnographically - Chapter 1


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