'Being there' during lockdown: a phenomenological perspective on ethnography of the pandemic present and research methods for the future

L.L. Wyn and Susanna Trnka

Chapter 11 in A Research Agenda for COVID-19 and Society, 2022, pp 175-194 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, anthropologists Wynn and Trnka use their own pandemic experiences and research to examine the reach and limits of ethnographic research. They describe the complex interdigitation of digital and offline worlds, as people use the Internet to connect with far-flung friends and relatives and incorporate media coverage of global phenomena into their own embodied experiences of COVID-19. They also describe attempts at "walking ethnography" during lockdown to investigate how people expressed connection, isolation, and citizenship while confined to their homes and neighbourhoods. Drawing on phenomenological perspectives, they explore how researchers' own horizons of experience can offer insights into the kinds of research questions and methods that are well-suited for exploring research participants' experiences and perceptions while in lockdown. Beyond the pandemic, these methods are important tools for ethnographers to investigate contemporary experiences of isolation, connection, and curatorship of online identities in a profoundly digital world.

Keywords: Development Studies; Economics and Finance; Sociology and Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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