Established Outsiders. On reproduction and transformation of ethnographic knowledge in the current American sociology.

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Nina Martina Degele
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 356769877

This research examines the social dynamics of reproduction and transformation within ethnographic knowledge. Therefore it focuses on intergenerational relationships amongst current American ethnographers, including those beyond the Chicago School. The project aims on both the empirical description of differentiation of ethnographic approaches, which are relatively unknown in Germany, as well as the reconstructive analysis and the further constitutive connection between the various schools and their protagonists. In all this, a central role is played by the established outsider, a figure developed within the framework of the project-specific preliminary works: Marginality, during a phase of consolidating the ethnographic research, is still considered to be a commonly shared epistemological quality criteria and significantly supports identity establishment within the ethnographic self-narration. At the same time the socio-structural positioning of ethnographers within the economic system significantly improved; the former underdogs have transformed into the established. The study is empirically based on narrative interviews with representatives and (former) students of various ethnographic approaches as well as on observation protocols from relevant conferences and lectures. This scientific sociological study contributes, therefore, to an empirically founded reflexivity within the processes of scientific knowledge production in qualitative methods.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants