Ethnography, diversity and urban space

Abstract

This article is an introduction to a special issue on ethnography, diversity and urban space. It places the ‘diversity turn’ within studies of migration and multiculture historically and discusses the implications of concepts such as ‘diversity’ and more recently ‘super-diversity’ for scholarship, policy and identity politics. It argues that diversity is a helpful concept for studies of migration and multiculture because it avoids the essentialism and bias towards ethnic affiliation often characterising studies within the multiculturalism framework, while being more grounded locally than studies within the transnationalism framework. It examines the methodological implications of increasing diversity and complexity on ethnographic studies and the definition of the ‘field’. It makes the point that increasing urban diversity poses a challenge to ethnographic ideals of ‘immersion’ and wholeness. Finally, it introduces the individual articles in the special issue.

Keywords:

• diversity
• everyday multiculture
• ethnography
• urban space
• fieldwork
• transnationalism

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford for financial support for the conference at which the articles were first presented. We are especially grateful to Vanessa Hughes for her contribution to the organisation of the conference, to Ida Persson for admin and logistical support, and to COMPAS director Michael Keith for his intellectual support, not least for stepping in to give an inspiring keynote at very short notice. We are also deeply indebted to our co-editor Ben Gidley for his substantial input to the Introduction; and to Karen Fog Olwig for her close reading of the articles and stimulating epilogue. Finally, thanks to Claire Alexander and Amanda Eastell-Bleakley at Identities for seeing the special issue through to publication.

Notes

1. 1. For Angela Merkel, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/17/angela-merkel-germany-multiculturalism-failures, [Accessed 4 June 2013]. For David Cameron, see https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pms-speech-at-munich-security-conference, [Accessed 30 May 2013].

2. 2. A systematic discussion of the similarities and differences between the two concepts is beyond the word limits of this article.

3. 3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/21/zadie-smith-big-society-multiculturalism, [Accessed 30 May 2013].

4. 4. See http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/events/forthcoming/ethnography-diversity-urban-space-conference/, [Accessed 6 June 2013].

5. 5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/04/boris-johnson-immigration-uk-economy, [Accessed 4 June 2013].

6. 6. By juxtaposing these two events, Falcous and Silk (2010) reveal the tensions and ambiguities between assertions of inclusive civic nationalism and the geo-politics of the ‘war on terror’ within Britain’s post-imperial self-imagining.

7. 7. http://simply-docs.co.uk/Equal_Opportunity_Diversity_Policy_and_Guidance/Equal_Opportunities_and_Diversity_Policy, [Accessed 26 June 2013].

8. 8. There is not space here to summarise the extensive debate about the relative merits of Marcus’s programmatic article. For important critiques, see Hage (2005) and Candea (2007); for more sympathetic engagements, see Falzon (2009b) and Coleman and Hellermann (2009). For an overview of ethnographic traditions of studying minority and migrant groups in both anthropology and sociology, see Alexander (2006).

9. 9. On ethnography as an embodied skill, see Gidley (2009). We note that Baumann’s fieldwork in Southall was conducted over a period of 6 years and wonder if any funding body today would be willing to invest in research of such longitude.

10. 10. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/24/capital-john-lanchester-review, [Accessed 5 June 2013].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mette Louise Berg

METTE LOUISE BERG is a Lecturer at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA) and the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford.

Nando Sigona

NANDO SIGONA is a Birmingham Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham.