The Value of Ethnography

Abstract

Abstract:As an anthropologist whose main methodological approach to the study of media industries is long-term ethnographic fieldwork, in my essay I want to highlight the importance of the issues of practice, social relations, and subjectivity to the study of mass media production as well as the utility of ethnography as a method. My approach to a large-scale market-driven media industry differs considerably from the legacy established by the Frankfurt School's "culture industry" approach to the analysis of mass media, whereby the political economic structures of production preclude discussions of subjectivity, agency, and meaning. I contend that in order to understand the complexities of media production, it is necessary to examine producers' sentiments and subjectivities in conjunction with questions of political economy. Regarding media producers as agents grounded in specific social, historical, and interpretive locations and their activity of production as comprising a domain of social practice complicates the discussion of commercial mass media production and takes it beyond simplistic assertions of the "bottom-line"-that somehow the pursuit of profit provides the limits of analysis.

From Living in Bondage to Queen Amina: An Aesthetic Evaluation of Contemporary Nollywood

“…However, the involvement of President Goodluck Jonathan's administration in the affairs of the industry indicates that state support is necessary for optimum growth. Ganti's (2014) study emphasized the role of the government in the eventual gentrification of Bollywood. Okechukwu Ogunjiofor's experiences with Living in Bondage and Queen Amina also proves that such support remains an absolute necessity.…”

Resisting subalternity: Palestinian mimicry and passing in the Israeli cultural industries

“…We decided to employ the ethnographic method since it enabled observing people’s daily behaviors in specific settings, seeking to illuminate their ‘perceptions, thoughts, sentiments, and desires’ (Ganti, 2014: 18). This method, which is still not widely adopted because of access issues (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007), allowed us to look closely at the series’ production and document the dialectics of the intersectional othering taking place on set and the strategies adopted in response by Palestinian creative workers.…”

Anthropology, Film Industries, Modularity

“…But despite these claims, this fieldwork often comes across as little more than interviews with industry personnel ( whether above or below the line) as well as attending industry functions and parties, with almost no participation in the actual pro cesses of making films themselves. Ganti (2014) has made this criticism in her comments on how film industries have been studied in media and production studies. It is argued by many industry scholars that such participation is virtually impossible given how closed and guarded the industry is, and yet anthropologists have done just that (Rossoukh in chapter 2 and Martin in chapter 6, this volume, are cases in point).…”