Korte beschrijving/Annotatie

Timely critique of the expanding institutional control over academic research and its impact on ethnographic practice

Tekst achterflap

In recent decades, academic research has come under increasing institutional surveillance and control. Doing Ethnography traces the rise of ethical review procedures, open science mandates, and integrity protocols, examining how these developments shape ethnographic practice. It critically explores key themes such as doing no harm, informed consent, transparency, anonymity, researcher positionality, and the sharing of field notes. The book argues that contemporary academia often enforces universal, bureaucratic forms of regulatory ethics. Rooted in quantitative and (post-)positivist paradigms, these frameworks frequently clash with ethnography’s interpretive, intersubjective, and immersive fieldwork approach. In response, it calls for a situated, context-sensitive ethics of care attuned to the specificities of ethnographic engagement. Ultimately, Doing Ethnography offers both a critical reflection on institutional power and a plea to recognise and sustain the epistemic diversity on which academic freedom depends.

Slogan/Promotie

In recent decades, academic research has come under increasing institutional surveillance and control. Doing Ethnography traces the rise of ethical review procedures, open science mandates, and integrity protocols, examining how these developments shape ethnographic practice. It critically explores key themes such as doing no harm, informed consent, transparency, anonymity, researcher positionality, and the sharing of field notes. The book argues that contemporary academia often enforces universal, bureaucratic forms of regulatory ethics. Rooted in quantitative and (post-)positivist paradigms, these frameworks frequently clash with ethnography’s interpretive, intersubjective, and immersive fieldwork approach. In response, it calls for a situated, context-sensitive ethics of care attuned to the specificities of ethnographic engagement. Ultimately, Doing Ethnography offers both a critical reflection on institutional power and a plea to recognise and sustain the epistemic diversity on which academic freedom depends.

Biografie

Annelies Moors is an anthropologist and professor emerita at the University of Amsterdam. Most recently she was the principal investigator of the ERC advanced grant ‘Muslim Marriages’ and held the NIAS fellowship ‘The Struggle for the Future of Ethnography’.

Inhoudsopgave

Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Beyond an affaire: managing ethnography 1.1. An article and its afterlife: reputation management in action 1.2. Engaging with the trouble: ethnography, academia, and society 1.3. Writing this book: set-up and chapters Chapter 2. Doing ethnography: an approach, not a method 2.1. Ethnography as relational and processual 2.2. Ethnography beyond anthropology 2.3. Ethnography in a changing world 2.4. Conclusion: epistemological plurality Chapter 3. Research ethics: problems with regulation 3.1. Ethical self-regulation in anthropology 3.2. Enforceable ethics: state governance and beyond 3.3. Conclusion: doing ethics differently Chapter 4. The complexities of doing no harm and informed consent 4.1. Doing no harm: power and ethos 4.2. Informed consent: the forms 4.3. Informed consent: the principle 4.4. Ethnography, concealment, and publication 4.5. Conclusion: ethical dilemmas Chapter 5. Open Science and replication: trust, distrust, and transparency 5.1. The Open Science movement: from utopia to dystopia? 5.2. The trouble with transparency 5.3. The replication crisis: what does it mean? 5.4. Ethnography, replication, and openness 5.5. Conclusion: another kind of openness Chapter 6. Constructing integrity: codification in context 6.1. Public scandals and the emergence of integrity codes 6.2. Constructing integrity: comparing the codes 6.3. Policy-making: projectification and integrity 6.4. Conclusion: from ethics to commerce Chapter 7. Anonymity, positionality, and field notes: integrity in practice 7.1. Contesting anonymity: a turn to disclosure? 7.2. Positionality and substance: relations in process 7.3. The problem with sharing field notes 7.4. Conclusion: a case-by-case approach Chapter 8. Academic freedom: scholarship and politics 8.1. A diversity of perspectives: politicising the academy 8.2. Funding and employment 8.3. External threats and internal harassment 8.4. Israel/Palestine: academic freedom in action 8.5. Conclusion: acting with responsibility Chapter 9. Conclusion: dilemmas and responsibilities 9.1. Ethics, integrity, and power 9.2. Doing ethics and integrity differently 9.3. Academic freedom: ethnography and beyond Notes References

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