ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines different genres of ethnographic writing, each of which can imply a different kind of ethnographic representation. Writing is at the heart of ethnography. Furthermore, ethnographic writing poses particular challenges as well as offering distinctive rewards. That is because writing an ethnography differs from the more formulaic written genres of experimental or survey research. Textual reflexivity is an unavoidable feature of all research, but it is especially significant in ethnographic writing. Indeed, while long on critical commentary, Writing Culture and some of the other contributions were short on detailed analysis of anthropologists’ actual textual practices. Despite the publication of various books of advice on writing in ethnographic or qualitative research, students and less experienced researchers often find the process of writing challenging and frustrating. The use of actual types is often embedded in narratives constructed by the ethnographer. Narrative creates particular kinds of order.
