CROSSROADS IN CULTURAL STUDIES
Fourth International Conference
June 29 - July 2, 2002, Tampere, Finland

Reflexive Media Ethnography in Spaces of Consumption

Organiser: Lena Gemzoe

Becker, Karin (Konstfack/College of Art, Craft and Design, Sweden) VISUALIZING THE FIELD: PHOTOGRAPHY AND REFLEXIVE ETHNOGRAPHY
This paper takes as its point of departure how and what the ethnographer sees when entering the field of media consumption. To what extent is the fieldwork setting a visual construction? Drawing on recent studies of media and visual culture in spaces of consumption, the paper examines the visual categories the ethnographer brings to the field, including images from media and other cultural domains, arguing that these categories are often critical to the ethnographer's descriptions, interpretations and results. The paper considers how photography can be integrated into reflexive practices that de-familiarize the ethnographer's composite picture of the field, one typically grounded in everyday pracitices of media consumption. Collective forms of fieldwork and analysis, including informants' visual documents, and alternative ways of generating and examining photographs provide 1) insights into the ethnographer's perspective, and 2) alternative constructions and interpretations of the field.

Kaijser, Lars (Stockholm University, Sweden) EVOKING THE STRUCTURAL
Spaces of consumption are penetrated by layers of social, economic, and gender-related power structures. These conditions shape the practices of everyday life, but they are not always evident. In this paper I will address questions of how ethnographic methods evoke these structures. I intend to demonstrate how structural conditions become visible and apparent not only to the ethnographic eye, but also to those who occupy spaces of consumption. Drawing on experiences from fieldwork conducted in a Swedish shopping mall I first discuss the negotiatons involved in entering the field. I then show how the ethnographer's experiences of attempting to force and manœuver the power structures revealed in the process of fieldwork can be the core of ethnographic analyses.

Lovgren, Karin (The Nordic Museum, Sweden) TRANSITORY ENCOUNTERS - CONTEMPRARY CHALLENGES FOR ETHNOGRAPHY
What are the implications of using a certain place, in this case a shopping mall characterized by brief encounters as the focal point for a media study? People will pass through, stay a short while as (possible) customers, spend their workday, or just sneak in for shelter. Can thick description and in-depth interviews, the common methods of ethnographic fieldwork, be used to catch the meanings of these transitory interactions? This paper treats the different methodological strategies used within the research project Popular Passages to confront this dilemma. Fieldwork in cyberspace, short interviews, observations and focus on employees combined with user interviews in people's homes are some of the methods that have been applied. The discussion of the empirical material - and how it was constructed - is tied-in with a general discussion on the role of the ethnographer as an outsider and the ethic dilemmas this raises.

Machado Borges, Thaïs (Stockholm University, Sweden) TELENOVELAS AND EVERYDAY LIFE: HOW CAN ETHNOGRAPHY BROADEN THE PERSPECTIVE OF RECEPTION STUDIES?
Brazilian telenovelas can be described as a national passion: broadcast daily at prime time, watching telenovelas has become a part of the daily practices of millions of viewers. Having decided to research about the impact of telenovelas upon people's everyday lives, I was confronted with a crucial question: how should I proceed in order to obtain qualitative information about the reception of these mass entertainment programs? In this paper I present some of the methods I used in order to construct and delimit my field of research. I then present how these methods foreground a connection between telenovela watching and other practices of consumption. Finally, I approach a personal dimension of ethnography as I discuss my position as both an insider and an outsider in relation to my field.

Escosteguy, Ana Carolina (Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) DOING RECEPTION ANALYSIS: NOTES ON RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
This piece attempts to map the reception analysis done in Brazil. This kind of investigation is related to the more general rise of cultural studies in Latin America from the mid-1980s on. The reception studies give special attention to female audiences, especially, middle-age women from lower classes. Methodologically, this empirical research, adopting qualitative methods, has sought to concentrate on the accounts of the spectator herself, commonly using in-depth interviews and sometimes including participant observation. Recent developments look at the construction of identities through reception processes. This issue has been taken up worldwide by the feminist television analysis. In contrast with cultural studies elsewhere, the encounter between feminism and reception analysis, in Brazil, has had far less influence. Although audience research concentrates its focus on women's reception, it privileges the social marker of class rather than gender. In sum, the authors explores key methodological approaches and theoretical debates between Brazilian reception analysis and the same branch in the anglophone academy.