Patching sites, patching data: Patchwork ethnography on fashion in and beyond pandemic times

Abstract

This article explores the innovative method of patchwork ethnography, which was first introduced by Günel, Varma and Watanabe in 2020, and its applicability to the area of fashion studies. It elaborates on the features, qualities and limitations of the method. The article does so by reflecting on the ethnographic research I conducted for my Ph.D. thesis. In March–August 2019 and January–July 2021, I used a patchwork ethnography approach to participant observation, interviews, digital ethnography and visual analysis to study the trade and retail of Chinese-made garments and textiles in Mozambique. The article puts a special focus on the difficulties and restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these can be offset by the specific characteristics of patchwork ethnography. Apart from discussing the issues relating to my positionality and privilege as an educated white female researcher in a cross-cultural Global South context, it also hopes to further push the ongoing decolonization of fashion studies. It therefore aims to show that the applicability and relevance of patchwork ethnography go beyond periods shaped by pandemic restrictions. More generally, this article emphasizes the necessity and benefit of an interdisciplinary mindset and creative, flexible, multi-method approaches to understand and tackle the great challenges of our time that relate to the production, trade and consumption of fashion products.