The Ethnography of Resistance Then and Now: On Thickness and Activist Engagement in the Twenty-First Century

This article seeks to convey some of the theoretical frameworks and commitments that characterize how anthropologists have approached the ethnography of resistance. Using our individual biographies as a point of departure, we describe and contrast the intellectual influences that shaped our ethnogra...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:History and anthropology 2014-08, Vol.25 (4), p.431-451
Main Authors: Urla, Jacqueline, Helepololei, Justin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
21st century
Accountability
Activism
Biographies
Cultural Critique
Engaged Research
Ethnography
Resistance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article seeks to convey some of the theoretical frameworks and commitments that characterize how anthropologists have approached the ethnography of resistance. Using our individual biographies as a point of departure, we describe and contrast the intellectual influences that shaped our ethnographic engagements as well as the unanticipated dilemmas we each faced with regard to writing, thick description, and accountability to research participants and their struggles. Our narratives reveal a continued interest in ethnographic thickness while at the same time pointing to new challenges that emerge from the growing interest in engaged or activist research paradigms. Our experiences show that studying actors engaged in political struggle calls for rethinking the pedagogy and practice of ethnography. We conclude by considering steps we can take within our institutions to support such reflexivity and engagement in ethnographic work.
ISSN:0275-7206
1477-2612
DOI:10.1080/02757206.2014.930456