ABSTRACT

Introduction Urban ethnographies take place in the research spaces of the home, family, school, work and street amongst the uncertainty of city life. As other chapters within this text have shown, the reality of research spaces impacts how a researcher or research team might engage in design, implementation and reporting of results. In this chapter, we examine possible approaches, perspectives and challenges related to engaging in research in urban spaces. We rely on interdisciplinary work that spans sociological, economic and educational fi elds. We acknowledge that our work, our experiences and perceptions of the work of others are transitory and context-bound. We contend that conducting research in modern urban spaces is different from engaging in research projects with other populations and cultures, such as indigenous (Tuhiwai Smith, 1999), rural or suburban groups (Lareau, 2003). There are overlaps with these research spaces related to issues of imperialism, colonization or mispresentations of voice, but the dynamic power structures within urban environs are nonetheless unique because of their particular focus on race and class-based inequalities.