Ethnography and the university: current trends and future directions

Abstract

This article utilizes anthropological theory to examine the existing body of ethnographic research in colleges and universities, which remains underdeveloped compared to K-12 ethnographies. I identify two parallel developments in this field: a micro-level ethnography of college and university sub-cultures and a macro-level ethnography of structural transformations in higher education. What has largely been missing is a meso-level or institutional ethnography of colleges and universities that centers institutional relations as objects of ethnographic inquiry. After surveying relevant ethnographic traditions that might inform this meso-level approach, I offer an illustrative example from an ethnography of diversity policy and practice at a public research university attempting to transform itself into a more diverse institution. The article highlights the benefits and possibilities of an ethnography of colleges and universities rather than ethnography in colleges and universities.