An Ethnographic Inventory: Field Devices for Anthropological Inquiry

This book provides an inventory of modes of inquiry for ethnographic research and presents fieldwork as an act of relational invention. It advances contemporary debates in ethnography by arguing that the empirical practice of anthropology is and has always been an inventive activity. Bringing together contributions from scholars across the world, the volume offers an expansive vision of the resourcefulness that anthropologists unfold in their empirical investigations by compiling inventive social and material techniques, or field devices, for anthropological inquiry. The chapters seek to inspire both novel and experienced practitioners of ethnography to venture into the many possibilities of fieldwork, to demonstrate the essential creative and inventive practices neglected in traditional accounts of ethnography, and to invite anthropologists to confidently engage in inventive fieldwork practices.

Tomás Sánchez Criado is Ramón y Cajal Senior Research Fellow at the CareNet-IN3 of the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain.

Adolfo Estalella is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the Department of Social Anthropology and Social Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.