Trivial and Normative? Online Fieldwork within YouTube’s Beauty Community

Abstract

In this article, I discuss methodological understandings around qualitative research and online ethnographic practice to bring forward a reflexive account on the particularities of doing fieldwork on YouTube. I draw from a multiyear ethnographic examination of YouTube’s beauty community that sought to understand online popularity framed by local norms and practices and shed light into the local significance of knowledge, expertise, and self-development. I argue for an epistemological perspective that acknowledges the diversity of viable, conceivable fieldwork experiences while distancing from prescriptive modes of argumentation. I propose seeing fieldwork in and through its richness and predicaments, persistently naturalistic while interpretive. I approach online popularity, fandom, and even YouTube itself from a perspective that tolerates ambivalence, contradictions, and embraces the complexity of social worlds and human interaction.

Practices of Ethnographic Research: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography has a tradition of looking behind the scenes of ethnographic field work and exploring how ethnography is actually practiced (e.g., García-Rapp 2018; Katz 2018; Thompson and Lashua 2014; Vanover 2015). This approach makes JCE the ideal home for this Special Issue, and we would like to thank the editor, Charles Edgley, for his continuing support in putting it together.…”

From the books to the screens, to the memes and beyond: Fans’ notions of Game of Thrones as an adaptation

“…Rather, I acknowledge audiences' subjectivities within a dynamic, diversified media landscape and seek to theorize the popular from a diverse perspective. I highlight the relevance of user-centred perspectives where entertainment and coping with stress, pain or boredom are legitimate reasons to engage with a variety of media texts (Grossberg 1992;Jenson 1992;García-Rapp 2019). More or less active fans and viewers remind us that there is a continuum of participation and engagement (Bury 2018).…”

Cómo me hice BookTuber: (auto)etnografía digital, prosumo literario y sociabilidad en YouTube

“…La cantidad de investigaciones que han usado métodos etnográficos para analizar YouTube es tan vasta como la plataforma misma, que actualmente tiene 2,5 billones de usuarios y su red publicitaria alcanza a una de cada tres personas en el planeta, según el reporte industrial Digital Overview Report (Data Reportal, 2022). Hay trabajos sobre comunidades de aprendizaje de música (Waldron, 2013), personas transexuales (Raun, 2015;Tompkins, 2014), videojuegos (Guarriello, 2019Pellicone & Ahn, 2018;Ruffino, 2022), videos ASMR (Maddox, 2021), beauty vloggers (Bishop, 2019;Garcia-Rapp, 2019), vlogs sobre la escuela (Snelson, 2015;Wang & Picone, 2022) y un larguísimo etcétera.…”