Arthur P. Bochner - Böcker

This volume presents the latest explorations of the literary turn in ethnographic work by many of the leading people in the area. Centering on autoethnography, personal narrative, ethnographic performance, and the blending of social science and the arts, the articles collected here emphasize embodiment, experiential understanding, participatory ways of knowing, sensuous engagement, and intimate encounter. Drawing from disciplines as diverse as sociology, philosophy, performance studies, communication, family therapy, and English, the authors here demonstrate the many ways in which ethnography can be effectively conducted and expressed. The editors weave narrative and conversations surrounding the conference from which these pieces emerged into a reflexive volume which includes poetry, stories, theatre, and visual media as well as critical pieces. Accessible and jargon free, this book should excite scholars and students as to the expanding possibilities for ethnographic presentation.

What is it like to have lived with bulimia for most of your life? To have a mother who is retarded? To fight a health insurance company in order to survive breast cancer? Carolyn Ellis and Arthur P. Bochner have assembled innovative pieces which tackle these and other difficult questions, enlarging the space to practice ethnographic writing as the stories are told through memoirs, poetry, photography, and other creative forms usually associated with the arts. The authors demonstrate how ethnographic data can be converted into memorable experiences that readers can use in the classroom and everyday life.

Reflecting on a 50 year university career, Distinguished Professor Arthur Bochner, former President of the National Communication Association, discloses a lived history, both academic and personal, that has paralleled many of the paradigm shifts in the human sciences inspired by the turn toward narrative. He shows how the human sciences—especially in his own areas of interpersonal, family, and communication theory—have evolved from sciences directed toward prediction and control to interpretive ones focused on the search for meaning through qualitative, narrative, and ethnographic modes of inquiry. He outlines the theoretical contributions of such luminaries as Bateson, Laing, Goffman, Henry, Gergen, and Richardson in this transformation. Using diverse forms of narration, Bochner seamlessly layers theory and story, interweaving his professional and personal life with the social and historical contexts in which they developed.