The politics of method: from leftist ethnography to educative research

In the last two decades, ethnography has become the dominant methodology of the American educational left. While debates have raged over the use of this method, for the most part they have focused on concepts of reliability and validity. Unfortunately, this emphasis has obscured the relation between method and what the researcher is trying to achieve through the method ‐ its political moment. We strive to put the political moment back in the methodological debate by considering the potential of ethnography to foster emancipatory change ‐ the express purpose of the left. Our analysis suggests that the separation of understanding and application, as well as that of the researcher from those researched, constrains the potential of ethnography to inform and foster emancipatory change.