Reflexive Ethnographic Science

Aunger proposes a solution to a fundamental debate in contemporary ethnography: the source of ethnographic authority. He advocates the method of reflexive analysis as a new way of doing ethnography and making it a more effective scientific endeavor. Reflexive Ethnographic Science constitutes a foil to those in cultural studies and related fields who deride the possibility of verifiable ethnographic representations. Aunger's new work promises to reinvigorate ethnographic research and methods by a unique combination of traditional and postmodern objectives, through the reflexive achievement of authority. He explains how reflexive analysis requires changes in standard ethnographic practice in terms of data collection, analysis, and presentation. Using this method, the author offers a case study of the food taboos in a multi-ethnic population in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which includes pygmy foragers and their horticulturalist Bantu neighbors. This book is a valuable tool for graduate level courses in ethnographic method and theory, and a key reference for researchers in the social sciences who employ interviewing, participant observation methods, and multivariate statistical models, including anthropology, sociology, and psychology.

By Robert Aunger