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Sociomaterial Ethnography: Taking the Matter Seriously

Marko Niemimaa, Sociomaterial Ethnography: Taking the Matter Seriously. In: Proceedings of the Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (MCIS) 2014, 1–12, Association for Information Systems, 2014.

Abstract:

Ethnographic research is a form of qualitative inquiry that creates deep and rich understanding of a
studied naturalistic phenomenon. Traditionally, ethnographic research has focused on uncovering the
meanings and interpretations of those studied. In other words, ethnographies have focused on
uncovering the social construction of the world that reflects underlying interpretive stance. However,
recent theoretical developments within Information Systems (IS) and management research emphasize
that it is not only social constructions but 'matter' that matters. Research that aims at taking matter
seriously in their theorizing are referred to as sociomateriality. Despite that empirical
sociomateriality research seems to prefer ethnography as research approach, explicit reflections on
the applicability of ethnography for sociomaterialist studies lack. This paper aims at contributing by
arguing for the applicability of ethnography for sociomaterialist studies, building especially on
agential realist worldview. Applying sociomaterial stance for ethnographies emphasize (1) studying
the entanglement of social and material in lieu of social constructions; (2) sensitivity to performativity
over representations; and (3) viewing researcher as part of, in lieu of, within, the phenomenon
studied. The study contributes to the discussions on sociomateriality by lowering the barrier to
conduct sociomaterialist empirical work. Conclusions are drawn

BibTeX entry:

@INPROCEEDINGS{inpNiemimaa_M14a,
  title = { Sociomaterial Ethnography: Taking the Matter Seriously},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (MCIS) 2014},
  author = {Niemimaa, Marko},
  publisher = {Association for Information Systems},
  pages = {1–12},
  year = {2014},
  keywords = {sociomaterial, ethnography, researcher's role, Barad, field study, worldview},
}

Belongs to TUCS Research Unit(s): UTU Information Systems Science (ISS)

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