Social Distancing and Ethnography: Strategies for Social Contact and Interviews with Latinx Diasporic Populations During COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract Traditionally, ethnography is an enterprise based on face-to-face contact with research populations. Preventive measures designed to stop the spread of COVID-19, such as sheltering in place and maintaining social distance, have disrupted this important interaction and how anthropologists gather field data. New strategies are needed to overcome this restriction, especially when our research involves Latinx diasporic populations. Drawing on our current research that, to one degree or another, involves Latinx refugee, immigrant, and migrant populations, we make recommendations for using different media for maintaining virtual social contact and interviewing. Trust and rapport are key components of ethnographic research, and it is important to maintain a human connection within one’s field site, through this pandemic and beyond.