Novel ethnographic representations and the dilemmas of judgement

Abstract

Abstract This article suggests that readers of ethnographic work need to make informed, principled and responsible decisions about the criteria they use to judge different and novel forms of representation. Two possible approaches are discussed in detail. Firstly, attention is given to the criteriological approach which believes that agreed, universal and preordained criteria can be established against which any piece of qualitative research should be judged. Following this, a relativist approach is considered in which criteria are seen as characterising traits or values that influence our judgements that are subject to constant reinterpretation as times and conditions change. Examples of each of these approaches in action are provided and their consequences are reflected on. Finally, it is suggested that ethnographers might seek to develop the qualities of connoisseurship as an art of appreciation in order to assist them pass judgement of novel forms of representation. Keywords: representationjudgementcriteriarelativistconnoisseurshipcriteriologistresponsibility Acknowledgements My thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.