Reflections on urban ethnography: an interview with Elijah Anderson

Elijah Anderson, Patrice D. Collins, Vida Bajc and Margarethe Kusenbach

Chapter 32 in Handbook of Interpretive Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 2025, pp 501-511 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: For Elijah Anderson, ethnography is a methodological lens to examine racial relations and inequalities in urban contexts. Throughout his long career, Anderson has developed a series of concepts that have resonated far beyond sociology and the United States. In this chapter, Anderson describes the origins, major themes, and interconnections of his five seminal books, Black in White Space (2022), The Cosmopolitan Canopy (2011), Code of the Street (1999), Streetwise (1990), and A Place on the Corner (1978). Together, these works illustrate how the social construct of race shapes identities, interactions, and relationships in the American city. In addition to discussing interpretive ideas such as local knowledge and analytic induction, Anderson reflects on links between his personal life and his research, his distinct approach to writing and teaching, and his legacy.

Keywords: Ethnography; Analytic induction; Local knowledge; Race relations; Public space; Urban studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803926384
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