Critical ethnography and its others: Entanglement of matter/meaning/madness

Abstract

Beginning with a critical examination of the humanist assumptions of critical ethnography, this article interrogates and surfaces problems with the ontological and epistemological orientations of this research methodology. In drawing on exemplar empirical data from an arts‐based project, the article demonstrates the limitations in the humanist‐based qualitative research approach and advances a postdualist, postrepresentationalist direction for critical ethnography called entangled ethnography. Using data from a larger study that examined the perspectives of racialized mad artists, what is demonstrated in this inquiry is that the entanglement of bodies, objects, and meaning‐making practices is central to working with the ontologically excluded, such as those who find themselves in various states of disembodiment and/or corporeal and psychic distribution. We propose the redevelopment of critical ethnography, extended by entanglement theory (a critical posthuman theory), and suggest that for it to be an inclusive methodology, critical ethnography must be conceptualized as in the process of becoming and always in regeneration, open to critique, extension, and redevelopment.

Combining Critical Ethnography and Critical Discourse Analysis in Mental Health Nursing Research

“…Although a critical ethnographic approach allowed them to collect data from various sources to better understand the cultural makeup of their research environments, these data were primarily made up of the words of patients, family members, and health/legal professionals who are themselves entrenched within the healthcare environment. On that subject, Adam et al (2023) drew attention to how the ontological assumptions of critical ethnography—specifically its humanism and focus on emancipation—butted against the degree to which the participants expressed being “entangled” (p. 5) with the social fabric in which they existed. On the same note, Vandenberg and Hall (2011) critiqued critical ethnography for failing to address researcher bias, thus adding complexity to Adam et al’s (2023) notion of entanglement—we, as researchers, are also entangled in the cultures that we want to problematize, thus limiting our ability to adequately identify and explain the problematic nature of certain cultural processes.…”

“…On that subject, Adam et al (2023) drew attention to how the ontological assumptions of critical ethnography—specifically its humanism and focus on emancipation—butted against the degree to which the participants expressed being “entangled” (p. 5) with the social fabric in which they existed. On the same note, Vandenberg and Hall (2011) critiqued critical ethnography for failing to address researcher bias, thus adding complexity to Adam et al’s (2023) notion of entanglement—we, as researchers, are also entangled in the cultures that we want to problematize, thus limiting our ability to adequately identify and explain the problematic nature of certain cultural processes.…”

Toward an ontology of the mutant in the health sciences: Re/defining the person from Cronenberg's perspective

“…Whether in the context of empirical or theoretical research, in correctional, psychiatric, or forensic psychiatric settings (Holmes, 2013;Johansson & Holmes, 2023), or in some of the most recent investigations into radical sexualities between men Holmes, Numer, et al, 2021;Holmes et al, 2017). It is evident to perspicacious readers, within nursing and beyond, that we maintain a strong fascination with the body, including its very boundaries and the boundary-producing practices that circumscribe them as such (Adam et al, 2023). On the one hand, this fascination was fuelled by the body's implication in violent and disciplinary, total institutions (Goffman, 1961), such as those implicated in the psychiatric apparatus; and on the other, it consistently developed when the body, and its desires, become the subject of sustained attempts of government, even subjection, by the public health apparatus (Holmes et al, 2017) and 'maddening' psychiatric discourses (Adam, Gold, et al, 2022).…”

“…Our discussions led us to identify the field of cultural studies, and more specifically, the cinema of David Cronenberg as one way to support this speculation. Seldomly problematized, except by a few postmodern scholars in the disciplines of health sciences (Adam et al, 2021(Adam et al, , 2023Dillard-Wright & Shields-Haas, 2021;Dillard-Wright et al, 2020;Grant, 2016;Sandelowski, 2002) commonly accepted humanistic principles and values in nursing's conceptual models, theories, and practice represent a prime example of an established norm. These theories thus became the target of our collective critique, as we believe that emerging critical scholarship must continue to question taken-for-granted definitions (and assumptions) of the person based solely on humanism, and must do so fiercely, given the consequences (Adam, Jiang, et al, 2022;Adam et al, 2021Adam et al, , 2023.…”