Debating Ethnography

Illustration showing an ethnically diverse crowd of people

Ethnography is the study and description of culture, based on a qualitative research method that comes from the discipline of anthropology but is applicable to other disciplines. Debating Ethnography fosters dialogue within and beyond Modern Languages and explores the pedagogic, scholarly and socio-political relevance of ethnography and its role in trans-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration.

About

Debating Ethnography has its roots in a staff-student group in LCL established in 2014.

It brings together staff and PG students who work at the interface of the Humanities and Social Sciences (in areas such as Modern Languages, English, History, Archaeology, Social Sciences, Medicine and Web Sciences) and who use ethnographic methods to conduct empirical research and explore the role of culture in their fields of study.

We organise regular open seminars, workshops and training sessions, exploring the role and potential of ethnography in the context of our research and the societal challenges we face.

Members of the research group employ ethnographic research in a wide range of research areas, including language use, multilingualism, education, globalisation, capitalism, migration and mobility.

Our community

The research group has a wider community through its Facebook page. We are open to collaboration and the sharing of interdisciplinary knowledge. Our blog engages with multi-modal and transdisciplinary forms of ethnography through a wide range of topics and publishes our activities.

Research highlights

Helping local winegrowing communities adapt to global challenges

Environment, sustainability and clean growth

Ethnographic research in Burgundy’s vineyards inspired new perspectives on how rural communities can tackle issues such as globalisation and climate change.

People, projects, publications and PhDs

People

Research projects

Publications

PhD opportunities

People

Dr Adriana Patino

Associate Professor

Research interests

Director of the Centre for Linguistics, Language Education and Acquisition Research (CLLEAR). I have expertise in sociolinguistic ethnography, language socialisation, narrative inquiry, and multilingualism. I have concentrated on the social processes that are produced in daily-life encounters by focusing on the intersection between language, ideology and positioning. My interests lie in the area of how young people and adults experience language issues when embarking upon life projects involving mobility. I am currently interested in Family, Language and Memory.

Accepting applications from PhD students