ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the pragmatics of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in corporate settings where anthropologists are involved in negotiating the outcomes of fieldwork. It suggests that anthropologists have substantial responsibility in shaping corporate ideologies and consumption agendas toward purposeful ends. Mediating fieldwork is presented here as a critical first step in mobilizing individuals who bring different perspectives to bear on a research project. Their different interests and perspectives form a complex network of working relations that the corporate anthropologist must work with to inform a common goal before, during, and after research. The reflexivity movement is turned inward toward companies to involve more corporate “self-conscious reassessment”. One of the challenges for anthropologists working in corporate America is dealing with corporate models of consumers. Anthropologists working in advertising agencies and marketing research firms can and should influence corporate ideologies and perceptions of consumers by encouraging ethnographic fieldwork that directly engages corporate managers in sites of consumer practices and fields of production.
