Giving In on the Field: Localizing Life-World Analytic Ethnography in Mediatized Fields

• Published in: Journal of contemporary ethnography 2015-10, Vol.44 (5), p.657-673
• Main Authors: Eisewicht, Paul, Kirschner, Heiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ethnography; Social research; Sociology
• ISSN: 0891-2416; 1552-5414
• DOI: 10.1177/0891241615595437

Because of the variety of ethnographic research nowadays, the need increases to locate the researcher’s own approach within this variety for the intersubjective comprehensibility of the research. The argument is that specific ethnographic research programs face different challenges when conducting fieldwork, especially in mediatized fields. This article proposes a differentiation of ethnographic research by theoretical paradigm, methodological stance, and scientific purpose. Following these categories, we specify life-world-analytical ethnography as originating from the (subject-centered) action theory with an emphasis on observational participation, an affirmative–descriptive attitude toward the research, as well as the implementation of data gathered by personal experience and its interactive verification within the field. Furthermore, we address the challenges ethnographers are facing when conducting their research in mediatized fields and illustrate the advantages of a life-world analytical approach on our case of online-livestreams and videogaming. We thereby introduce the concept of passing to methodologically expand this approach.