Contemplation in Ethnographic Fieldwork

This chapter introduces contemplative inquiry as a method within ethnographic fieldwork, arguing that it integrates embodiment, emotion, contemplation, and dialogue. It traces the method's origins in philosophical and religious traditions and its growing use in educational and therapeutic settings. The authors propose a holistic theoretical scaffolding in which voice is theorized as "multi-lingual" and "multi-vocal," encompassing standpoints, experiences, and an imaginative, creative space. The chapter serves as both an introduction to and a resource for contemplative ethnography, contending that contemplation is deeply theoretical and integral to ethnographic understanding when effectively applied.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter begins with contextualisations of the primary research site then summarises uses of contemplative inquiry in research, providing an overview of its origins (Breede and Davis 2018). Its applications in philosophical and religious traditions are briefly discussed, followed by a discussion of its burgeoning usages within educational and therapeutic settings. Exemplifying one use of contemplative inquiry in ethnographic fieldwork, it presents a holistic method that includes embodiment, emotion, contemplation, and, when possible, dialogue (Davis and Breede 2015). Descriptions of physical embodiment are shared, contrasting from mediated forms of embodiment. Multiplicities of voice broaden notions of dialogue, allowing for dialogue as sole or joint. These underpinnings begin to flesh out a theoretical scaffolding for this method. Voice is theorised as “multi-lingual” and “multi-vocal”. The notion of voice is not new, but within the contemplative holistic method, “voice” is neither a set of standpoints (my voice as an Italian-American, heterosexual feminist) nor a set of experiences (my voice as a teacher, daughter, survivor), the voice of contemplation becomes all those things and more, much like creation or Armageddon – the dead speak, the air lifts, millions of multi-hues emerge from the contemplative state. Allowing the mind to wander, listening, to be that child lying in the field imagining the clouds as animals and wizards, entering an imaginative space, allowing nurture and growth of multiplicities of creativities – of train cars and semi-trucks full of new ideas. Introducing new applications of the methodological process, the chapter includes a discussion of research centres, universities, and “think tanks” that investigate and promote contemplative studies. This chapter is an introduction to the use of contemplation within ethnographic fieldwork and a resource for those pursuing contemplative ethnographies. Contemplation within ethnographic fieldwork is deeply theoretical when effectively applied and integral to ethnographic understandings.