Elizabeth Hauke is Field Leader for the Change Makers field of Imperial Horizons. Since the 2019-20 academic year, Change Makers staff and students have undertaken ethnographic research projects, such as the ‘Dear Diary’ 360 degree project and the ‘Evoking (y)our authentic’ long-form ethnographic work. In this seminar Dr Hauke will explore the research, considering in particular how post-modern ethnographic practices impact both the conduct and presentation of this work.

In particular these methodological considerations will be brought into tension with the key research interest of ‘authenticity’. A tricky concept – trying to pin it down, explain or describe authenticity often leads to an inauthentic expression. So how can this be tackled?

Authenticity can be experienced but not ‘received’. If one of the main activities of research is to communicate your findings and outcomes, how can genuine authenticity be present in traditionally presented research? Or does research need to be reimagined to accommodate the experiential and engage the reader as a part of the ‘research process’ in itself? 

The seminar will have interactive elements, so please bring a pencil and paper when you join online.