ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author advances the concept of ethnographic comportment as a performance-based framework for addressing issues surrounding research design in ethnography. Research design in ethnography is particularly challenging due both to the naturalistic environment in which most research occurs—what Diana Forsythe referred to as the “uncontrolled (and uncontrollable) real life settings”. Readers of ethnographies by-and-large expect some transparency—including dealing with unexpected circumstances—as fundamental to the textures of ethnographic experiences and writings; however, at the different stages of proposing research to various stakeholders, delineating the space between intention, preparedness, unpredictability, and engaged adjustment is tricky and usually involves a delicate balancing act. The attributes of ethnographic comportment are particularly salient when considering ethnographers’ critical awareness of ethnography’s problematic past and their conviction to embrace and extend the virtues of ethnography into the future. Ethnographic comportment offers a performance-based framework for thinking through the ways that ethnographic projects and practices are conceived of and enacted in situ by researchers.
