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.
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