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Article published In: Methodology in Linguistic Landscape Research
Edited by Robert Blackwood
[Linguistic Landscape 3:3] 2017
► pp. 306–326

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Inclusive ethnographies

Beyond the binaries of observer and observed in linguistic landscape studies

 | University of Jyväskylä
 | Western Oregon University
Published online: 19 January 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.17008.sza
Abstract
In ethnographically oriented linguistic landscape studies, social spaces are studied in co-operation with research participants, many times through mobile encounters such as walking. Talking, walking, photographing and video recording as well as writing the fieldwork diary are activities that result in the accumulation of heterogeneous, multimodal corpora. We analyze data from a Hungarian school ethnography project to reconstruct fieldwork encounters and analyze embodiment, the handling of devices (e.g. the photo camera) and verbal interaction in exploratory, participant-led walking tours. Our analysis shows that situated practices of embodied conduct and verbal interaction blur the boundaries between observation and observers, and thus LL research is not only about space- and place-making and sense-making routines, but the fieldwork encounters are also transformative and contribute to space- and place-making themselves. Our findings provide insight for ethnographic researchers and enrich the already robust qualitative and quantitative strategies employed in the field.
Magyar
A nyelvi tájképet vizsgáló etnográfiai kutatásokban a közösségi tereket a kutatásban részt vevő személyekkel együttműködve vizsgálják, gyakran mozgás, például séta közben. A beszéd, a séta, a fényképezés, illetve videózás mint társas tevékenységek eredményeként heterogén, multimodális korpuszok jönnek létre. Tanulmányunkban egy magyarországi iskolai etnográfiai projekt anyagait elemezzük abból a célból, hogy rekonstruáljuk, hogyan befolyásolják a kutatóval tett, de a kutatásban részt vevő személy által vezetett felfedező séták a kutatás menetét. Részletesen elemezzük ebből a szempontból az embodiment, a fényképezőgép-kezelés és a verbális interakció szerepét. Amellett érvelünk, hogy a közös felfedező sétákhoz köthető embodiment, fényképezőgép-használat és verbális interakció elmossák a megfigyelő és a megfigyelt közötti határokat, így a nyelvi tájkép kutatása nemcsak tárgyát tekintve szól tér- és helyteremtésről, hanem transzformatív jellege révén a kutatás maga is alakítja e folyamatokat. Eredményeink az etnográfiai vizsgálatok egyes jellegzetességeinek feltárásán túl a nyelvi tájkép kutatására már rendelkezésre álló kvalitatív és kvantitatív módszerek gazdagításához is hozzájárul.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: LL studies and inclusive ethnographies
  • 2.Walking and LL studies
  • 3.A schoolscape ethnography project
    • 3.1Agency and schoolscape in focus
    • 3.2The wider societal context
    • 3.3On the fieldwork setting
    • 3.4Tourist guide technique: A type of walking interviews
  • 4.Analysis
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Link to the online appendices
  • References
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