Dismantling the Ethnographer’s House

On Mexican Middle Classes and Shopping Malls

Bibliographic Data

ID6015646
AuthorsCarolin Loysa (Freie Universität Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume86
Pages54-67
Publication date2024-06-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueKulturanthropologie Notizen (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2748-4912 • E-ISSN: 2748-5943
PublisherUniversity Library J. C. Senckenberg (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.21248/ka-notizen.86.43
OpenAlexW4399539312
LanguageEN
References cited12

Following Audre Lorde, this paper reflects on how to decolonize the ethnographic endeavor, arguing that every ethnographic inquiry should begin with a critical evaluation of our own class consciousness in relation to our field, and focusing on how class consciousness is inscribed onto our own bodies no less than onto the bodies of our interlocutors. Shopping malls are epitomes of neoliberal capitalism, serving as spaces where middle classes converge under one roof. Particularly in a neo-colonial context like Mexico’s, malls tease questions of class in a distinctive manner by utilizing the body as advertising platform. This paper argues that my position as white upper-middle-class (cis)woman from the global north was not only the primary tool that facilitated this research but a tool that significantly influenced its direction and focus. Simultaneously, it raised broader questions concerning intersectional inequalities under neoliberal capitalism and underscores our ethical responsibilities as ethnographers

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Capitalism · Class (philosophy · Class consciousness · Colonialism · Consciousness · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Ethnography · Inscribed figure · Middle class · Political science · Politics · Relation (database · Sociology · White (mutation · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · History · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access