Abstract
Drawing upon the work of anthropologists and sociologists, scholars in political science and international relations (IR) increasingly rely on ethnographic methods. Based on multiple fieldwork experiences, within secretariats of international organizations and on the field of international interventions, this chapter addresses the relevance of such methods and the challenges of their concrete application in IR. It provides a series of concrete practical tricks to anticipate, prepare and conduct a fieldwork. It considers the different types of participation a researcher can adopt and stresses the various dimensions of observation. Finally, it draws attention to the daily challenges of ethnographic methods and suggests solutions to overcome issues of confidentiality and to deal with the effects of immersion. Ethnographic methods are relevant to cover a wide variety of fields and objects and therefore, as the chapter shows, are appropriate to the study of IR. More precisely, this chapter suggests different ways to adapt ethnographic methods to the specificities of international configurations. Doing fieldwork is required not only to study the relationships that structure the processes of internationalization and globalization but also to test the relevance of academic and indigenous categories produced to understand these configurations.
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Notes
- 1.
Bronislaw Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, London, Routledge, 1922; Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays (New York (N. Y.), Basic Books, 1973).
- 2.
William Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society. The Social Structure of an Italian Slum (Chicago (Ill.), University of Chicago Press, 1943).
- 3.
Daniel Cefaï et al., “Ethnographies de la participation,” Participations, 3(4) (2012): 7–48.
- 4.
For example, Marc Abélès (ed.), Des anthropologues à l’OMC. Scènes de la gouvernance mondiale (Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2011); Birgit Müller, “Comment rendre le monde gouvernable sans le gouverner: les organisations internationales analysées par les anthropologues”, Critique internationale, 1(54) (2012): 9–18, Johanna Siméant, Victoria Lickert and Florent Pouponneau, “Échelles, récifs, bureaux—Terrains du politique à l’international”, in Johanna Siméant (ed.), Guide de l’enquête globale en sciences sociales (Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2015), pp. 13–32.
- 5.
Stéphane Beaud and Florence Weber, Guide de l’enquête de terrain (Paris, La Découverte, 2010), p. 274.
- 6.
Geertz , The Interpretation of Cultures.
- 7.
Magali Boumaza and Aurélie Campana (ed.), “Enquêter en milieu “difficile,” Revue française de science politique, 57(1) (2007): 5–89.
- 8.
Siméant (ed.), Guide de l’enquête globale en sciences sociales.
- 9.
Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society.
- 10.
Mounia Bennani-Chraïbi, “Quand négocier l’ouverture du terrain c’est déjà enquêter. Obtenir la passation de questionnaires aux congressistes de partis marocains,” Revue internationale de politique comparée, 17(4) (2010): 93–108.
- 11.
Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, “La politique du terrain,” Enquête, 1 (1995): 76.
Bibliography
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Beaud, Stéphane, and Florence Weber. 2010. Guide de l’enquête de terrain. Paris: La Découverte.
Bennani-Chraïbi, Mounia. 2010. Quand négocier l’ouverture du terrain c’est déjà enquêter. Obtenir la passation de questionnaires aux congressistes de partis marocains. Revue internationale de politique comparée 17 (4): 93–108.
Cefaï, Daniel, et al. 2012. Ethnographies de la participation. Participations 3 (4): 7–48.
Sardan, De, and Jean-Pierre Olivier. 1995. La politique du terrain. Enquête 1: 71–109.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.
Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1922. Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Routledge.
Müller, Birgit. 2012. Comment rendre le monde gouvernable sans le gouverner: les organisations internationales analysées par les anthropologues. Critique internationale 54: 9–18.
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Whyte, William Foote. 1943. Street Corner Society. The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Louis, M., Maertens, L., Saiget, M. (2018). The Field Study. In: Devin, G. (eds) Resources and Applied Methods in International Relations. The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61979-8_7
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