This edited volume gathers top scholars from across disciplines, generations, and countries to provide constructive commentary on the theory, methods and practices of institutional ethnography. These contributions explore themes of relevance to institutional ethnographers that are both enduring and newly emerging: how institutional ethnographers can take an expanded view of social institutions, how they might explore the dynamics of ruling relations over time, what results from understanding experience as dialogue (including internal or in-skull dialogue), the significance of “standpoint,” and the opportunities for institutional ethnographers to move beyond texts as they discover and describe social relations.
A key aspect of Critical Commentary on Institutional Ethnography, and one that distinguishes it from others, is the forward-looking orientation of the authors. This perspective allows them to establish bridges between the institutional ethnography that has been developed heretofore and the potential that is looming for such a mode of inquiry into the social. As such, the book is both informative and inspirational.
Author(s): Paul C. Luken, Suzanne Vaughan
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 255
City: London
Acknowledgments
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: Where Do We Go from Here?
References
Part I: Critical Commentary on Experience and Standpoint
Chapter 2: “Just Trying to Do My Job.” Accounting for the Institutional Ethnographer’s Sensibility in Everyday Life
The Essay and Encounters with Detecting Practices
Putting an Institutional Ethnographer’s Sensibility to Work at the Airport
Thinking About the Security Guard and Griffith and Smith’s (2005) Small Hero
Local Ways and Practices in the Matter of Consciousness-Raising
Detection Is Overwhelming but Not Inevitable
Bringing More People into Consideration as Subjects of Ruling
Just Trying
References
Chapter 3: Human Service Professionals and IE: Interrogating Some Quandaries over “Standpoint”
Professionals and IE Inquiry in the Human Service Organization
How Nurses Think About Their Practice: Evidence of a Dual Consciousness?
The Contemporary Social Organization of Professional Nursing
Registered Nurse Schroeder, Her IE Research, and Her “Standpoint”
IE’s Standpoint, Ruling, and the Production of Trustworthy Knowledge
Knowledge, Power, and Standpoint in IE
Interrogating a “Ruling Regime”
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Institutional Ethnography as an Approach for Social Justice Allies
The Problematic
Institutional Ethnography and the Black Equity and Excellence Initiative
Bringing the Problematic Experience into Focus
Mapping the Ordinary Daily Practices Behind the Problematic Experience
Taking Action as an Ally to Bring About Concrete Change
Conclusion
References
Part II: Critical Commentary on Institutions
Chapter 5: Reflections on Social Relations and the Single Institution Tendency in Institutional Ethnography
Recognizing the Single Institution Tendency
Critiquing the Single Institution Tendency
Accounting for the Single Institution Tendency
Some Promising Exemplars
Some Ways Forward
Professional Writing Studies and Recontextualization
Medico-Legal Borderland
The Relational Turn
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Institutional Ethnography and Feminist Pedagogical Praxis
Nancy’s Reflections
Dorothy Smith as Feminist Pedagogue and Mentor
Resources for Teaching IE: A Pedagogical Textual History
Conceptualization and Key IE Concepts
IE Praxis: Three Case Studies
Learning by Doing: “Responding to Racist Harms”: Ashley’s Reflections
Doing IE as a Reflection on Standpoint Experiences
IE Analysis as Experiential Learning
Doing IE as Pedagogical Praxis
Conclusion
References
Part III: Critical Commentary on Ruling Relations and History
Chapter 7: Revisiting the Ruling Relations
Introduction
Foundations: A Brief Review of the Ruling Relations
You Are Here, 2016
Writing the Ruling Relations
You Are Here, 2022.
Discussion: Implications for Institutional Ethnographers
Conclusion
Appendix: Key Sources by Dorothy Smith
References
Chapter 8: Contextualizing Institutional Ethnography
Sociology as Practice/Work: A Standpoint from Norway
Sociology as Discourse: A Standpoint from Norway
The Emergence of Norwegian Sociology
The Welfare State
Hybrid Models
Positioning IE in the Norwegian Context: Future Challenges and Prospects
References
Chapter 9: Institutional Ethnography as Alternative to Studying Historical Change: A Conceptual Framework and Analytical Strategies
Studying Social Change
An Alternative
Our Methods for Investigating Historical Changes in Housing
Collecting Oral Housing Histories
Collecting Archival Data
Guide for Doing Archival Research in IE
Conclusion
References
Part IV: Critical Commentary on Settler Ruling Relations
Chapter 10: Going in Circles: The Hidden Work of Hospital Staff Trying to Meet the Healthcare Needs of First Nations People Through “Patient-Centered Care”
The Research Problematic
Using IE to Explore the Work of Staff
What Staff Trying to Improve Care for First Nations People Spent Their Time and Effort Doing
Band-Aid Work
Convincing Work
What Happened When Staff Shared Their Knowledge About This Work with Others to Make Change? How Was This Knowledge Received?
Resisting work
What Was Shaping These Interactions? Who Benefited from This?
The Virtual Reality of Patient-Centered Care
Conclusion
References
Chapter 11: Institutional Ethnography and Decolonization in Planning: Exploring Potential and Limits
The Origins of This Chapter: Planning’s Complicity with Colonial Dispossession
Unpacking the Colonial Cultures of Planning Through IE
Mapping Fear, Economic Interests, and Western Legal Supremacy: What IE Allowed Me to See
What Can IE Do to Support Decolonization?
Decolonization in Planning
Decolonization Discussions in IE
Decolonization as Indigenous Resurgence and Land Restitution
The (Im)Possibilities of IE in Support of Decolonization
Concluding Thoughts: From Mapping State Planning to Strengthening Indigenous Planning
References
Part V: Commentary on Social Relations Beyond Texts
Chapter 12: Writing the Social Web: Toward an Institutional Ethnography for the Internet
Virtual, Digital, Online Ethnography
What Is a Digital Platform?
IE and Digital Ethnography
Considerations in Digital Fieldwork
Conclusion
Suggested Questions for Digital IE Research
References
Index
