Our Approach
Collaborative event ethnography is a team-based approach to studying mega-events (see Brosius and Campbell 2010; Campbell et al 2014). We organize our research around a common set of analytics that guide our observations and analysis. Because we cannot cover every aspect of an international policy events like COP21, we use a matrix to decide which events to cover each day: first we cover events related to indigenous rights, then those related to forests, and lastly those related to biodiversity. At COP21, we had team members with credentials to access the official COP21 negotiations as well as a team dedicated to covering civil society events in the Climate Generations area of COP21. At the World Conservation Congress, we had access to all events.
In the field we use participant observation, interviews, and iterative analysis to examine how tensions between conservation, development, rights, and livelihoods, emerge, gain traction, and are contested, debated, and ultimately traded-off. We pay particular attention to modes and practices of representation in the interest of understanding how underrepresented and marginalized groups pursue justice and influence international environmental negotiations.
We are also experimenting with digital ethnography and visual ethnography to complement our on-site data collection. 10 Northwestern undergraduate students from Professor Marion Suiseeya's Global Environmental Justice research seminar are conducted visual ethnographies related to the P2I project. 15 Purdue undergraduate students from Professor Zanotti's Anthropology of Water course in Fall 2016 conducted digital ethnographers of the World Conservation Congress. 33 Purdue undergraduate students from Professor Marion Suiseeya's International Environmental Policy course at Purdue University in Fall 2015 followed key actors in the COP21 negotiations to examine how these groups use virtual worlds to influence the negotiations. The digital ethnography team uses the same project analytics as the field team.
All team members participate in a pre-event training that includes methodological, theoretical, and topical modules related to the event. We assembled our COP21 team in August 2015 and have participated in ongoing training up until the event. After the event the team will begin analysis and the write-up phase of the project. We will also have a week-long writing retreat.
In the field we use participant observation, interviews, and iterative analysis to examine how tensions between conservation, development, rights, and livelihoods, emerge, gain traction, and are contested, debated, and ultimately traded-off. We pay particular attention to modes and practices of representation in the interest of understanding how underrepresented and marginalized groups pursue justice and influence international environmental negotiations.
We are also experimenting with digital ethnography and visual ethnography to complement our on-site data collection. 10 Northwestern undergraduate students from Professor Marion Suiseeya's Global Environmental Justice research seminar are conducted visual ethnographies related to the P2I project. 15 Purdue undergraduate students from Professor Zanotti's Anthropology of Water course in Fall 2016 conducted digital ethnographers of the World Conservation Congress. 33 Purdue undergraduate students from Professor Marion Suiseeya's International Environmental Policy course at Purdue University in Fall 2015 followed key actors in the COP21 negotiations to examine how these groups use virtual worlds to influence the negotiations. The digital ethnography team uses the same project analytics as the field team.
All team members participate in a pre-event training that includes methodological, theoretical, and topical modules related to the event. We assembled our COP21 team in August 2015 and have participated in ongoing training up until the event. After the event the team will begin analysis and the write-up phase of the project. We will also have a week-long writing retreat.
Types of Data
Our data include audio recordings of proceedings, meetings and interviews, photos, documents and materials, and extensive field notes. We also capture screenshots of key actor websites, social media data (such as Twitter), downloaded videos and reports. Each team member is equipped with a GoPro camera to capture our journeys between events. This may help us to capture moments at the event we might otherwise overlook as we rush from event to event. It will also give students at Northwestern and Purdue a chance to experience the pace of the event from afar.
Once back on campus, the team will use QSR NVivo software to code and further deepen our analysis of our data.
Once back on campus, the team will use QSR NVivo software to code and further deepen our analysis of our data.
Background Materials
Brosius, J. P., & Campbell, L. M. (2010). Collaborative event ethnography: conservation and development trade-offs at the fourth world conservation congress. Conservation and Society, 8(4), 245.
Campbell, L. M., Corson, C., Gray, N. J., MacDonald, K. I., & Brosius, J. P. (2014). Studying Global Environmental Meetings to Understand Global Environmental Governance: Collaborative Event Ethnography at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Global Environmental Politics, 14(3), 1-20.
Corson, C., Campbell, L. M., & MacDonald, K. I. (2014). Capturing the personal in politics: ethnographies of global environmental governance. Global Environmental Politics, 14(3), 21-40.
Campbell, L. M., Corson, C., Gray, N. J., MacDonald, K. I., & Brosius, J. P. (2014). Studying Global Environmental Meetings to Understand Global Environmental Governance: Collaborative Event Ethnography at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Global Environmental Politics, 14(3), 1-20.
Corson, C., Campbell, L. M., & MacDonald, K. I. (2014). Capturing the personal in politics: ethnographies of global environmental governance. Global Environmental Politics, 14(3), 21-40.