An Intellectually Bold Volume on Ethnography with a Twist

This interdisciplinary volume was published during the global Covid-19 pandemic and may therefore have escaped the notice of many of its potential readers.However, it is a work that deserves the attention of a broad range of scholars.It is creative, thought-provoking, and sometimes provocative in its quest to twist ethnographic practice.The stated goal of the volume is to "rethink ethnography 'outside the box' of its previous tradition and to develop ethnographic methods by critically discussing the process, ethics, impact, and knowledge production in ethnographic research".Building on the works presented and discussed at the Ethnography with a Twist Conference held in Jyväskylä, Finland in 2019, the authors represent trans-(North-)Atlantic institutions and a variety of disciplines working with ethnographic methods.The editors introduce the volume by pointing to two uses of the titular word 'twist': as an intentional aim to conduct ethnography with new tools, and as sensitivity to use those unexpected moments -twists -that always occur in fieldwork.This is a nice way of connecting several aspects of ethnographic fieldwork that have perhaps become more visible in recent methodological developments.When e.g. the affective turn invites us to be more attentive to the embodied nature of human interaction and knowledge production, researchers move into areas where we need to push the limits of our tried-and-tested vocabulary.When participatory approaches to ethnography insist on collaboration with all participants in our studies, the chance of the unexpected multiplies.The authors urge us to view ethnography with new eyes and discuss common problems and issues with a candour and courage not often seen.They build particularly on methodological developments moving towards multi-modality in process and outcome, such as autoethnography and retrospective, subjective, collaborative, and reflexive turns in ethnography.Although the individual chapters have their flaws and weaknesses, the authors and editors deserve praise for the effort bringing together new ways of thinking about ethnography in all its facets.The result is a volume that has the power to inspire as well as to invite debate.The thirteen chapters of the volume are divided

Epistemology · Ethnography · Geometry · Physics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Thermodynamics · Twist · Volume (thermodynamics · Anthropology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology