ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we argue for understanding higher education organizations ethnographically, and discuss the implications thereof. We begin by discussing the role and study of culture as an ethnographic imperative for understanding institutions and organizations. We review notable ethnographic accounts of higher education organizations from the broader research literature. Aft er discussing their contributions to organizational analyses, we suggest an ontological turn to the ethnographic study of organizations in higher education. Specifi cally, we advance poststructural and posthumanist critiques of inquiry in the practice of critically engaging “the ethnographic” toward an onto-epistemological imperative. We draw from an ongoing ethnographic engagement by Ryan Evely Gildersleeve (lead author) in order to illustrate the possibilities made plausible by the acceptance of an onto-epistemological ethnographic imperative of organizational analyses in higher education. Methodological implications are provided, as are questions for consideration and a short list of books recommended for further reading.
