This book provides an inventory of modes of inquiry for ethnographic research and presents fieldwork as an act of relational invention. It advances contemporary debates in ethnography by arguing that the empirical practice of anthropology is and has always been an inventive activity. Bringing together contributions from scholars across the world, the volume offers an expansive vision of the resourcefulness that anthropologists unfold in their empirical investigations by compiling inventive social and material techniques, or field devices, for anthropological inquiry.
The chapters seek to inspire both novel and experienced practitioners of ethnography to venture into the many possibilities of fieldwork, to demonstrate the essential creative and inventive practices neglected in traditional accounts of ethnography, and to invite anthropologists to confidently engage in inventive fieldwork practices.
The book is closely connected to the xcol Ethnographic Inventory, an open platform for documenting and inventorying the creativity of ethnographic inquiries.
Tomás Sánchez Criado and Adolfo Estalella. (forthcoming, 2023). An Ethnographic Inventory. Field Devices for Anthropological Inquiry. Routledge.