ABSTRACT
Ethnography offers a unique approach to the study of activism. ‘Participant observation’, the cardinal method of ethnography, cannot avoid the researcher sharing a range of activities and experiences with his or her research subjects, blurring any attempt to create an ‘objective’ distance. What specific insights does ethnography offer compared with other, more distant methods? After a short introduction, this chapter offers methodological propositions for an ethnographic study of activism. Going beyond a classical ‘community’ study of activists, these propositions aim to situate activism in its broader context of relations, forces, opportunities and constraints. Drawing on recent developments in global ethnography and social movement studies, this approach offers an understanding of the ‘social life’ of claims.
