Elite ethnography in an insecure place

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2616420
AutoresRosita Armytage (Durham University [email protected], autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen2018
Número82
Páginas80-93
Fecha de publicación2018-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaFocaal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0920-1297 • E-ISSN: 1558-5263
EditorialBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/fcl.2018.820106
OpenAlexW2895803358
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas37

Based on ethnographic research conducted with the wealthiest and most powerful business owners and politicians in urban Pakistan from 2013 to 2015, this article examines the particular set of epistemological and interpersonal issues that arise when studying elite actors. In politically unstable contexts like Pakistan, the relationship between the researcher and the elite reveals shifting power dynamics of class, gender, and national background, which are further complicated by the prevalence of rumor and the exceptional ability of elite informants to obscure that which they would prefer remain hidden. Specifically, this article argues that the researcher's positionality, and the inversion of traditional power dynamics between the researcher and the researched, can ameliorate, as well as exacerbate, the challenges of undertaking participant observation with society's most powerful

Elite · Ethnography · Interpersonal communication · Participant observation · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Rumor · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies