Researching the sociocultural: Modelling a responsive focused ethnography

Abstract

Assuming a methodological posture, this work extends the increasing legitimacy of the sociocultural in qualitative studies. Confronted by sociological questions with potential anthropological answers, this study straddled ethnographies and invoked attributes from both conventional and focused ethnography in a responsive focused ethnography. Responsive-focused ethnography transcends the strictures of traditional sociocultural dichotomies in understanding contemporary institutional arrangements. Experience during its deployment hints a responsive explorative frame for cultural excavation devoid of any illusions of the hidden nature of sociocultural reality. Deployment of this model also demonstrated the possibility of more holistic focused ethnographies with utility in addressing sociological questions with anthropological understandings across diverse contexts.