ABSTRACT
Reading the space of the range of discussion concerning the current order of knowledge about post-modernism, post-structuralism and ethnography is a daunting task. The writing culture debates of the 1980s have settled into an historical occasion; postmodernism has become its own containment; ethnography is under duress from a range of critiques, marked and motored, by a 'reflexive' turn. The chapter describes the 'ruins' of postmodernism, science and, ethnography itself. Delimiting, re-presenting and proliferating in excess of the space allotted to it, hope is that the text will work against itself in disavowing prescription, tidy tales and successor regimes of truth as we address how to proceed in such a moment. The chapter provide a cursory overview of postmodernism and post-structuralism by looking at a case study of its transmission and reception on part of those who do their work under the sign of 'critical ethnography'. It addresses the tensions between the weight of members' meaning and the ethnographer's interpretative responsibility.
