Whose street is it anyway? : Visual ethnography and self-reflection

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply a self-reflexive interpretive method of writing as a method of analysis of findings from a critical research based on videography documenting the relationship between ethnicity, consumption, and place. Design/methodology/approach: An innovative theoretical approach employed is interpretativist ethnography inspired by creative writing. This methodological approach allows the researcher to move beyond the rigidness of academic discourse and consequently enables a more intimate connection with the object of research. Findings: The main outcome of this paper is realization that the presence of the researcher and her own autobiography affects the results of research and that articulation as much as execution of research is always subjective. A significant implication of this kind of approach is uncertainty and unreliability which questions the positivist objectivism dominating in both consumer studies and marketing. A subsequent limitation is a free reading which evades possibility of definite conclusions. Originality/value: By providing a film and a commentary to it in one publication, this paper overcomes the traditional separation between the visual and the textual and contributes to the multisensory model of academic practice. It is particularly important for ethnography and visual studies where the application of the senses has both a theoretical and a practical value.