ABSTRACT
Ethnographers and anthropologists have entered and had a significant impact in corporate environments because of their willingness to work on terms not fully of their own choosing, and there is much to be celebrated in these developments. But it is also important to ask what is at stake in these changing forms of ethnographic work. This chapter explains some basic tenets of anthropological ethnographic practice and the distinctive kind of knowledge produced through ethnography as they collide with the limits of speed. A key promise of ethnographic work in business is to illuminate ways in which people living in various contexts and conditions understand and interact with the world. Ethnography is founded on some core underlying perspectives. Temporality also factors into the design of field studies, organized with sensitivity towards culturally relevant rhythms and cycles, from growing seasons to election cycles.
