Creative Practice Ethnographies

Larissa Hjorth is distinguished professor and director of the Design & Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform at RMIT University.Anne Harris is associate professor and vice chancellor’s principal research fellow at RMIT University.Kat Jungnickel is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London.Gretchen Coombs is postdoctoral research fellow in the Design & Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform at RMIT University.

Authors Hjorth, Harris, Coombs (all, RMIT University, Australia), and Jungnickel (Univ. of London, UK) assert early on that creative practice ethnography represents a collision of art and anthropology, with artists and creatives (including scholars) using contemporary tools to tell nuanced, revealing, and socially important stories for a broad audience. For scholars seeking deeper meaning in their work, this book lays out concrete examples of a core theme introduced early and often: producing socially impactful research. Interested readers should start with the introduction, as the authors do a spectacular job of providing context for their volume, offering a robust discussion of terms such as "techniques," "translation," and "transmission," which are often contested within academic circles. This reviewer especially appreciated how the text invites readers to more deeply consider core assumptions, examples, and challenges of using creative practice to tell compelling and rigorous stories. Although the subject matter might only be of deep interest to scholars, the book's prose makes this a quick and accessible read for anyone looking to understand the logic and practice of creative practice ethnography. For all scholars, this study is a compelling addition for our methodological toolboxes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Doing Creative Practice Ethnographies Chapter 1: Doing Collaborative and Creative Interdisciplinary ResearchSection I: Invitations & EncountersChapter 2: Creative Invitations Chapter 3: Speculative Encounters Section II: Mapping & MobilitiesChapter 4: Understanding Mapping Chapter 5: Making Mobilities Section III: Play & PerformanceChapter 6: Social Play Chapter 7: Performing Futures ConclusionBibliographyAbout the Authors