Situating the 'crisis of representation' in ethnographic approaches to theology and working toward community-centered, dialogic approaches

Abstract

In this article we unpack the significance of the 'crisis in representation' in the field of anthropology for ethnographic approaches to academic theology. The article summarizes and draws connections among other works in this themed issue and presents possibilities for moving forwards with ethnographic theologies that attune carefully to issues of representation. Attending to questions of method, identity, and ethnographic writing, it lifts up some of the diverse and genuinely collaborative approaches to fieldwork that are made possible by the hybrid and complex roles theologians play in relation to the communities and cultures with which they engage.