Ethnography and the Corporate Encounter : : Reflections on Research in and of Corporations / / ed. by Melissa Cefkin.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Anderson, Ken,; Blomberg, Jeanette,; Brun-Cottan, Françoise,; Cefkin, Melissa,; Darrouzet, Christopher,; Fischer, Michael M. J.,; Flynn, Donna K.,; Jordan, Brigitte,; Lambert, Monique,; Nafus, Dawn,; Ortlieb, Martin,; Wild, Helga,; Wilkinson, Susann,
• HerausgeberIn: Cefkin, Melissa,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2009]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Public and Applied Anthropology ; 5
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (262 p.)

Businesses and other organizations are increasingly hiring anthropologists and other ethnographically-oriented social scientists as employees, consultants, and advisors. The nature of such work, as described in this volume, raises crucial questions about potential implications to disciplines of critical inquiry such as anthropology. In addressing these issues, the contributors explore how researchers encounter and engage sites of organizational practice in such roles as suppliers of consumer-insight for product design or marketing, or as advisors on work design or business and organizational strategies. The volume contributes to the emerging canon of corporate ethnography, appealing to practitioners who wish to advance their understanding of the practice of corporate ethnography and providing rich material to those interested in new applications of ethnographic work and the ongoing rethinking of the nature of ethnographic praxis.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES AND TABLES -- Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Business, Anthropology, and the Growth of Corporate Ethnography -- ENCOUNTERS WITH CORPORATE EPISTEMOLOGIES -- Chapter 2 “MY CUSTOMERS ARE DIFFERENT!” Identity, Difference, and the Political Economy of Design -- DOING ANTHROPOLOGY IN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS -- Chapter 3 PARTICIPATORY ETHNOGRAPHY AT WORK Practicing in the Puzzle Palaces of a Large, Complex Healthcare Organization -- Chapter 4 WORKING IN CORPORATE JUNGLES Refl ections on Ethnographic Praxis in Industry -- REFRACTIONS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL WAYS OF BEING AND KNOWING -- Chapter 5 WRITING ON WALLS The Materiality of Social Memory in Corporate Research -- Chapter 6 THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AS ONTOLOGICAL CHOREOGRAPHER -- CULTURE AND CORPORATE EPISTEMOLOGIES -- Chapter 7 EMERGENT CULTURE, SLIPPERY CULTURE Conflicting Conceptualizations of Culture in Commercial Ethnography -- ANOTHER LOOK COMMENTARIES FROM CORPORATE RESEARCH AND THE ACADEMY -- Chapter 8 INSIDER TRADING Engaging and Valuing Corporate Ethnography -- Chapter 9 EMERGENT FORMS OF LIFE IN CORPORATE ARENAS -- CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX