Critical Complete-Member Ethnography: Theorizing Dialectics of Consensus and Conflict in Intracultural Communication

Abstract

In this article, I reflect on the critical potential of complete-member ethnography (CME) through a retrospective and methodological exploration of a 2004 ethnographic project. I offer my provisionary theorization of critical CME (CCME) by reworking data and experimenting with CCME writing. CCME is an innovative intracultural praxis which engages in and facilitates social justice and cultural reform through its dialectical and highly personalized communication theorization. I draw from three ethnographic traditions: ethnography of communication, critical ethnography, and autoethnography to theorize both consensual and conflictual aspects of CCME as dialectics. Implications for identity investments are discussed.

Keywords:

• Ethnography
• Community
• Epistemology
• Intracultural
• Dialectics

Acknowledgements

He wishes to thank Drs. Sandy Pensoneau-Conway and Shiv Ganesh, blind reviewers, and journal staff for their detailed and insightful comments on previous drafts of this essay.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Satoshi Toyosaki

Satoshi Toyosaki is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA. He specializes in critical intercultural communication studies