What is Ethnography?

 Ethnography is an extremely popular method of research used in sociological analysis. In this series, we intend to familiarize our audience with the nitty-gritty of conducting ethnographic research. It will feature writings, discussions, interviews and reflections from seasoned ethnographers. 

* The first post in this series is a two-part interview with Gayathri Sreedharan.

Gayathri Sreedharan is a social anthropologist and an ethnographer. She has an MA in Social anthropology from the University of Chicago and a Post Graduate Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism. She has been practising ethnography for over a decade now, having worked on several projects and very recently, as the Ethnographic Lead in Vihara Innovation Network. But this year, she has taken a leap forward and has founded her own ethnographic research agency called Anthropologiste. In this session with Doing Sociology, she talks about the nuances of doing ethnographic research and on adapting it to the needs of current times.

Video editing by Chinmoy Deori

***

* The second post in this series is an interview with Dr. Ankur Datta.

The Doing Sociology team interviewed Dr. Ankur Datta as part of our series What is Ethnography?Ankur Datta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, South Asian University, New Delhi. He has completed his PhD in Anthropology from the London School of Economics (LSE). He has conducted research among displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir. The monograph titled On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir based on his research among displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu has been published by the Oxford University Press, New Delhi in 2017. 

You can find his works here. 

You can find an extract from Ankur Datta's rich ethnographic work here. 

***

* The third post in this series is an interview with Prof. Lina Fruzzetti and Prof. Akos Ostor. 

The Doing Sociology team interviewed social anthropologists Prof. Lina Fruzzetti of Brown University and Prof. Akos Ostor of Wesleyan University. We spoke about the evolution of the discipline of Social Anthropology, visual ethnography, using film making as a research tool, and more.

About the speakers: 

Prof. Lina Fruzzetti teaches at the Anthropology Department at Brown University. Prof. Ákös Östor has previously taught in the Anthropology department at Harvard University. In 1988 he joined Wesleyan University where he is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Film Studies. Some of their co-directed films include Seed and Earth (1994), Fishers of Dar (2002) and Singing Pictures (2005). Some of their major co-authored publications include Kinship and Ritual in Bengal and Culture and Change Along the Blue Nile.

One can find more about Prof. Fruzzetti here and here. 

You can look up some of Prof. Ostor's works here.