Re-Placing Theory in Ethnography: A Postmodern View

Abstract

Does the postmodern climate mark the certain death of theory in ethnographic work? In this article, the author argues that postmodernity does mark the death of traditional forms of theory but it need not mark the end of theorizing activity in ethnography. What is required to keep theory in play is a rearticulation of what theory is in the postmodern view. To this end, the author examines how theory has been treated in the interpretive tradition and then discusses what theory is or can be in postmodern ethnography. Specifically, the author focuses on the relationship between theory and the theory teller, the characteristics of postmodern ethnographic theory, and the textual form of ethnographic theory. Throughout this discussion, the self is problematized in the theory endeavor.