Geopolitics as an ethnographic object and agenda

Abstract

Over the last 3 decades, while ethnography has arguably become a popular and legitimate method to study geopolitics among geographers, anthropologists have increasingly turned towards geopolitics as a popular subject to investigate former and emergent empires as everyday phenomena. Yet, their efforts remain rather disjointed. Written by an anthropologist, this review essay aims to put these rather disjointed efforts into a programmatic conversation and think about how one might (re)calibrate geopolitics as an ethnographic object and agenda. To that end, the essay first takes stock of the existing ethnographic knowledge of geopolitics through a review of selected works by geographers and anthropologists. Then, to help students and scholars of geopolitics from within these cognate disciplines move this engagement forward, the essay concludes by proposing the ‘cultures of geopolitical expertise’ as a productive avenue to recalibrate geopolitics as an ethnographic object and agenda.

Event ethnography: Studying power and politics through events

“…Indeed, participant observation is one of the most common tools that geographers already use in their strong record of conducting multi‐sited ethnographic research (e.g. Ballvé, 2020; Bernazzoli & Flint, 2010; Billo & Mountz, 2016; Butz, 2010; Dowler, 2001; Duggan, 2017; Firat, 2022; Herbert, 2000; Hitchings & Latham, 2020; Jackson, 1985; Koch, 2023a; Mason, 2023; Megoran, 2006; Müller, 2013; Watson, 2021; Watson & Till, 2010). In the case of event ethnography, the goal is to use similar apporaches while attending as many activities, displays, and special gatherings associated an event and recording extensive field notes to produce “thick descriptions” (Geertz, 1973) of the scenes and people's actions and non‐verbalized affinities.…”