The return of ethnographic comparison
epistemology at moments of political change
Keywords:
Ethnography, Method, Comparison, Epistemology, Politics, Reflexivity, Serendipity, Cold War, PostcolonialismAbstract
This study examines different approaches to ethnographic comparisons and analyses recent as well as older debates on how to compare ethnographic evidence. It shows how comparative epistemologies have changed during specific political moments (colonialism, decolonization, and the end of the Cold War). Recently, new forms of reflexive comparison have emerged that are rooted in an interpretative epistemology. The end of the Cold War stimulated new forms of comparison and reflexivity that gave rise to what I call serendipitous comparison: a comparative approach that is based on an interpretative epistemology that embraces serendipity, reflexivity, and saliency as being more important than control.Keywords: Ethnography; Method; Comparison; Epistemology; Politics; Reflexivity: Serendipity; Cold War; Postcolonialism.Downloads
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