Backyard Ethnography: Defamiliarizing the Familiar and Understanding the Consumer

Abstract

This is a paper about how observers can work “in home communities” without succumbing to comfortable assumptions that can be blinding to insights. Stories are presented from three author conducted ethnographies; from workshops that trained participants to conduct interviews; and from client shadows. The standard risks of backyard ethnography are countered with tips on breaking down preconceptions. Like the author’s backyard ethnographies, client and respondent collaboration in ethnography depend on the art of defamiliarizing presumptions and dogma. Business anthropology can gain from bringing clients to the field and from engaging respondents to do ethnography. These collaborations can eventually integrate consumer perspectives throughout an organization.