Encountering ethnography: autoethnographic reflections on field entry and its possibilities

Abstract

When we are introduced to the ethnographic method we find flexibility and openness. But doing ethnography does not mean an unbridled freedom, but a rigorous process that involves a greater methodological and ethical challenge compared to other strategies. The objective is to develop an autoethnographic exercise that in a narrative way shows the general context of the research, as well as personal and fieldwork experiences, in order to understand the possibilities of ethnography as an alternative that is updated to the changing needs of social research. These reflections are based on a project carried out from 2018 to 2022 with artisan women and families from San Cristóbal Zapotitlán, a rural community in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The article is developed in three stages: 1) the beginnings in the research, from an autoethnographic narrative; 2) the study space, as an approach to the context in which the research was developed; and 3) the application of the ethnographic method, which seeks to share some of its alternatives and possibilities. The findings allow us to conclude that ethnography is fundamental to understand the ways of life and the meanings of the practices carried out by the interlocutors in their daily lives.