Transcendent Ethnography

Abstract

This article proposes an action research based approach to ethnographic filmmaking within the context of cultures of conflict. It explores the history and ethics of traditional ethnographic film and demonstrates how past weaknesses and failures can be transformed into strengths through the reconceptualization of basic a priori assumptions of research methodology. This ‘transcendent ethnographic’ model designs a paradigm in which members of competing cultures are encouraged to form shared metacultures and become self-ethnographers, creating collaborative narratives that redefine their relationship from an intergroup to an intra-group perspective. The author explicates a decentralized, deregulated and cooperative approach to the creation of transcendent ethnographic film, demonstrating this model with an example from his own fieldwork.