THE STRENGTH OF ETHNOGRAPHY
in Ethnologia Europaea
Author:
Gisela Welz
Gisela Welz
Frankfurt University g.welz@em.uni-frankfurt.de
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With the growing interest of anthropologists in transnational processes and spatial mobility, the local community ceased to be an obvious or “natural” site for fieldwork. Yet, also in so-called “multi-sited research”, basic tenets of the ethnographic method continue to be valid. This commentary engages with the methods employed in the project “Sense of Community”, pointing out that in addition to giving the community study approach a fresh lease on life in ethnology, the project also shares some traits with regional surveys in the social sciences. The commentary concludes that by selecting two regions as research settings, the project also contributes to a revitalization of the comparative approach.