Being there, teleography and The Wire

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to question some of the assumptions about warm proximity which animate the idea of ethnography as a largely naturalistic mode of enquiry.

Design/methodology/approach

Watching television and having a think.

Findings

That the history of ethnography can be told as a process of bringing “them” closer to “us”, and this account culminates in the idea of watching a TV show as a mode of academic enquiry.

Originality/value

Largely depends on whether anyone is actually convinced by the argument.

Citation

Parker, M. (2012), "Being there, teleography and The Wire", Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 23-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/20466741211220624