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Methodologies of Mobility

Methodologies of Mobility

Alice Elliot | Roger Norum | Noel B. Salazar

(2017)

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Book Details

Abstract

Research into mobility is an exciting challenge for the social sciences that raises novel social, cultural, spatial and ethical questions. At the heart of these empirical and theoretical complexities lies the question of methodology: how can we best capture and understand a planet in flux? Methodologies of Mobility speaks beyond disciplinary boundaries to the methodological challenges and possibilities of engaging with a world on the move. With scholars continuing to face different forms and scales of mobility, this volume strategically traces innovative ways of designing, applying and reflecting on both established and cutting-edge methodologies of mobility.


Roger Norum is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, a researcher on the HERA project Arctic Encounters: Contemporary Travel/Writing in the European High North, and co-convenor of the EASA Anthropology and Mobility Network (ANTHROMOB).


Alice Elliot is a Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Bristol, UK.


"This timely book provides welcome material for reflection on classic, contemporary and future research practices, particularly for anthropologists due to its engagement with the distinctive history of the discipline. The chapters can be read independently, which make them attractive readings for any methodology class. Considering the central role of mobility in ethnographic research, an argument put forward very convincingly in the book, one would hope that these conversations on mobility and anthropology will soon be integrated within the conventional methodology handbooks." · Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale

“A treasury of rich insights into methods on the move that will inspire a new generation of mobility researchers in our burgeoning field.” · Nick van Hear, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford

“This book offers a thought-provoking and timely revision of anthropological methods on mobility. The focus these authors assume, fruitfully pushes and fine-tunes methodological engagements with mobility and ethnographic practice.” · Alison Macdonald, University College London

Methodologies of Mobility is a concrete inquiry into how specific research techniques, tightly linked to research questions, can address issues regarding mobility. This work makes a valuable contribution to social science research that concerns itself with how experiences of human movement and stasis are imbued with meaning.” · Kiran C. Jayaram, York College, CUNY


Noel B. Salazar is Research Professor in Anthropology at the University of Leuven and Founder of the EASA Anthropology and Mobility Network.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Methodologies of Mobility iii
Contents v
Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 ‘Few Are the Roads I Haven’t Travelled’ 25
Chapter 2 Inventorying Mobility 47
Chapter 3 Becoming, There? 68
Chapter 4 From Radar Systems to Rickety Boats 88
Chapter 5 Idleness as Method 109
Chapter 6 Meeting a Friend of a Friend 129
Chapter 7 ‘Being There Where?’ 148
Chapter 8 Fixating a Fluid Field 172
Afterword 195
Index 201