ABSTRACT
In this chapter I critically reflect on the use of ethnography to investigate gender and linguistic participation in UK political institutions. I start by explaining the reasons for using an ethnographic approach to uncover the informal rules and communicative norms in the House of Commons, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the National Assembly for Wales. I also describe the ways in which ethnographic data can be used as an underlying method combined with discourse analytic micro-analyses of parliamentary proceedings.
Using examples of ethnographic observational and interview data I then explore particular issues relating to the use of ethnography in these institutional contexts. I examine the role of the researcher as an ‘outsider’ in closed, exclusive communities that nevertheless are familiar, high-profile public institutions; the feminist research agenda and the transformative nature of ethnographic interviews with powerful political elites; and the possibilities offered by the ‘triangulation’ of data using a mixed-method approach and incorporating participants’ own interpretations to contribute to discourse analytic observations. I conclude by assessing how an ethnographic approach contributes to our understanding of the workings of gender and power in political institutions in which women continue to be vastly under-represented.
