Ethnography's Ghosts
Spectres, Archives, Ancestors
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 16. July 2026
Book
Hardback
162 pages
978-1-032-89149-1 (ISBN)
Description
With contributions from experienced scholars in sociology and anthropology, Ethnography's Ghosts illuminates and interrogates the 'ghosts' of past ethnographic fieldwork - whether revisited in practice or in the imagination.
This book captures the remnants of past ideas, people, and legacies that shape current practices, highlighting how fieldnotes transform into precious archives that both anchor and haunt researchers. By revisiting these notes, scholars experience a blend of nostalgia and revelation, freeing themselves from the pressures of immediate research demands and gaining new insights. The volume also addresses the ethical complexities of dealing with both personal and others' ghosts, offering a nuanced look at how past experiences continue to influence present scholarship.
This book makes an important intervention in discussions amongst sociologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists engaged in or reflecting on ethnographic research.
This book captures the remnants of past ideas, people, and legacies that shape current practices, highlighting how fieldnotes transform into precious archives that both anchor and haunt researchers. By revisiting these notes, scholars experience a blend of nostalgia and revelation, freeing themselves from the pressures of immediate research demands and gaining new insights. The volume also addresses the ethical complexities of dealing with both personal and others' ghosts, offering a nuanced look at how past experiences continue to influence present scholarship.
This book makes an important intervention in discussions amongst sociologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists engaged in or reflecting on ethnographic research.
Reviews / Votes
'As every ethnographer recognises, fieldwork looks back as it looks forward. This elegant collection with contributions by leading scholars makes the point clearly and powerfully. Ghost inhabit our research as they should as we are inspired or troubled by past studies. Ethnography's Ghosts is a creative push to engage beyoind the present and to walk arm in arm with our ghostly ancestors.'Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University and Emory University, USA.
'Returning to one's field notebooks allows the past observed, the present of observation, and the anticipated future to be reanimated, creating a reflective temporal tension. The authors offer lucid and original reflections on the role of memory, personal archives, and intellectual ancestors in shaping ethnographic knowledge. These essays illuminate the temporal and reflexive dimensions of fieldwork, capturing how emotion lies at the very heart of ethnographic inquiry.'
Silvia Cataldi, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
'The forward momentum created by ever stronger pressures to publish mean that we rarely pause to take stock of our creations, let alone the shoulders on which we (often precariously) stand. Beyond wonderful insight into the production of ethnographies, this elegant collection of essays is a prompt for us to do likewise: to revisit the 'ghosts' of Christmas past - the flotsam and happy accidents, self-destructive choices and occasional moments of clarity - that continue to shape us, and our writing, today.'
Mark de Rond, Cambridge University, UK.
'This imaginative collection explores ethnographers' processes of re-engagementwith their own research. Through relational acts of remembering, reviewing, reviving and reflecting, we dynamically encounterour ghostly source materials from archival fieldnotes to influential ancestors and past versions of ourselves. Refreshingly creative, the book makes a valuable contribution to qualitative research methodology.'
Susie Scott, University of Sussex, UK.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 174 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-032-89149-1 (9781032891491)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 07/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€52.50
Not yet published
E-Book
approx. 07/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
E-Book
approx. 07/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Persons
Emilie Morwenna Whitaker is a Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at the University of Salford, where she is also Director for Postgraduate Research. She has undertaken and led ethnographic fieldwork in health, social work, and welfare settings.
Paul Atkinson is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Cardiff University, where he served as Pro Vice-Chancellor. His recent publications include the last two books in his Ethnography quartet, Writing Ethnographically (2020) and Crafting Ethnography (2022). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the Learned Society of Wales.
Paul Atkinson is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Cardiff University, where he served as Pro Vice-Chancellor. His recent publications include the last two books in his Ethnography quartet, Writing Ethnographically (2020) and Crafting Ethnography (2022). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the Learned Society of Wales.
Content
Prelims
Notes on contributors
Emilie Morwenna Whitaker and Paul Atkinson, Introduction: Ghosts, Ancestors And Ethnographers
Emilie Morwenna Whitaker, Ghosts and the Archive
Paolo Favero, An Anthropologist Among Ghosts: On a House, Images and the Many Uses of Ethnography
Cristina Rocha, A Haunted Field: The Ghosts of Abuse in Spiritual Communities
Deborah Reed-Danahay, The Ghosts of First Fieldwork
Helena Wulff, When I Was a Theatre Ghost: Spectral Stories and Forms of Folklore in the Field
Michael Herzfeld, Agnosticism and Spectrality: Ghostly Traces and Ethnographic Experience
Tia DeNora, Perceiving the Beyond of 'End-of-Life': The Idea of Commuting Ghosts
Roger Sansi, Return to the Orixas
Maia Hetaraka, Selena Meiklejohn-Whiu, Justice Hetaraka, Katie Fitzpatrick and Melinda Webber, What kind of an ancestor do you want to be? Engaging with tupuna in indigenous ethnography in Aotearoa New Zealand
Sara Delamont, The Ghosts Behind My Chair: Reflections on the Fieldwork at St. Luke's
Greg Smith, Spectral Goffman
Black Hawk Hancock, Out of Step, Out of Time: Haunted by the Loss of the World
Paul Atkinson, An Ethnographic Sojourner
Index
Notes on contributors
Emilie Morwenna Whitaker and Paul Atkinson, Introduction: Ghosts, Ancestors And Ethnographers
Emilie Morwenna Whitaker, Ghosts and the Archive
Paolo Favero, An Anthropologist Among Ghosts: On a House, Images and the Many Uses of Ethnography
Cristina Rocha, A Haunted Field: The Ghosts of Abuse in Spiritual Communities
Deborah Reed-Danahay, The Ghosts of First Fieldwork
Helena Wulff, When I Was a Theatre Ghost: Spectral Stories and Forms of Folklore in the Field
Michael Herzfeld, Agnosticism and Spectrality: Ghostly Traces and Ethnographic Experience
Tia DeNora, Perceiving the Beyond of 'End-of-Life': The Idea of Commuting Ghosts
Roger Sansi, Return to the Orixas
Maia Hetaraka, Selena Meiklejohn-Whiu, Justice Hetaraka, Katie Fitzpatrick and Melinda Webber, What kind of an ancestor do you want to be? Engaging with tupuna in indigenous ethnography in Aotearoa New Zealand
Sara Delamont, The Ghosts Behind My Chair: Reflections on the Fieldwork at St. Luke's
Greg Smith, Spectral Goffman
Black Hawk Hancock, Out of Step, Out of Time: Haunted by the Loss of the World
Paul Atkinson, An Ethnographic Sojourner
Index