Anthropology as Strategy: A Review of Jay Hasbrouck’s “Ethnographic Thinking”
Anthropology is flourishing outside universities. More anthropologists than ever before work in the commercial sector- as researchers, consultants, user experience and design specialists. Techniques informed by anthropological practice comprise an expanding portfolio of approaches widely used in commercial qualitative research. The practice of anthropology within commercial contexts has implications for the ways that research is conducted and fosters new professional identities. Many anthropologists at home in the commercial world are actively engaged in EPIC whose successful annual conferences attract a growing number of researchers, as well as design, tech and industry insiders.
The activities of EPIC members may be largely under the radar of anthropologists situated in academically oriented university departments who don’t see themselves as working with, or for, businesses (universities as businesses not withstanding). Another reason why developments in the world of business anthropology may escape the attention of those of us outside it is that much of their knowledge production to date has been directed towards commercial clients and to developing the knowledge base for practitioners. A number of excellent introductory texts provide accessible overviews for researchers interested in entering this field. Although business anthropology has yet to integrate itself within the mainstream anthropology journals, the practice of anthropology within businesses is beginning to attract scholarly attention. Recent academic work is starting to examine how ethnography is used by corporations and how the business of ethnography is marketed, organized and delivered. A longer established body of work, including the path breaking contributions of Marietta Baba, investigates businesses as social organizations, ethnographically.
A newer practitioner literature aims to move beyond ethnography handbooks and ethnographic descriptions to demonstrate the potential of ethnography as an organizational practice. Jay Hasbrouck is an anthropologist based in the United States. His MA in Visual Anthropology focused on the Radical Faeries, a community of gay activists exploring spirituality and ecological concerns. His PhD in Social Anthropology examined the role of anthropology in shaping the ideology and actions of radical environmentalists operating as the Earth Liberation Front. For the past fifteen years he has used ethnographic research to address challenging problems for corporate clients internationally. Hasbrouck’s book Ethnographic Thinking: From Method to Mindset (Routledge, New York 2018) is a manifesto for using ethnography as a tool for strategic thinking which has value for businesses and other kinds of organizations. Hasbrouck uses examples based on his experience to demonstrate the distinctive value of the open ended iterative approach to understanding derived from the immersive engagement which characterizes anthropological research.
Ethnography for Hasbrouck is not merely a method to be selected from a set of research tools. It is a situated practice which fosters the curiosity, analytical capabilities and adaptability of the researcher. Using ethnography only to investigate research questions misses its transformative potential. Adopting ethnographic thinking within organizations, Hasbrouck suggests, can be productive in generating strategically useful insights and making organizations more adaptable. Ethnographic Thinking uses experience from commissioned research ranging from an investigation into the global fish supply chain to how nurses carry medicines between patients in a busy hospital to show how ethnographic approaches can be used to identify and address real world problems. The book conveys a vivid sense of what is satisfying and exciting about this kind of work and how ethnographic practice can reveal what hides in plain sight because `it goes without saying’.
The description of a research team working with nursing staff to resolve the misallocation of patient medication on a busy ward provides an excellent example of problem focused team work using ethnography. Confusion over medication didn’t indicate a problem with nurse training or knowledge, or with the ways in which medicines were stored. It arose from the ways in which pressured staff managed their professional interactions as they moved quickly between other staff and patients. Constant interruptions from staff needing to communicate with each other about patient care meant it was easy to lose track of the medicines they were carrying. Part of the team’s role is to facilitate a solution. A carrying device for sorted medicines is introduced, along with efforts to increase awareness among staff about the risks of interrupting each other. Tales like these are intended to convey the productivity of ethnographic practice for business insiders.
The book has much to offer business outsiders also. Hasbrouck is a skilled ethnographer whose field experience encompasses rural Mexican communities at risk of displacement from eco tourism, apartment dwellers in an Egyptian city and Radical Faeries in North America. Diverse experience of doing ethnography in different settings gives applied ethnographers a unique perspective on what helps such approaches travel. Good ethnographic practice which prioritizes a relational understanding of social processes depends on the skills and sensitivities of the ethnographer. This book is packed with strategies for doing better ethnography through adopting the attitudes and behaviors which cultivate curiosity, openness and the capacity for holistic analysis. Active listening and emotional intelligence enable the quality of interactions that are the foundation of good ethnography. What Hasbrouck terms `ethnographic thinking’ is a kind of grounded, problem focused curiosity which facilitates the quality of dialogical interaction between ethnographer and participant that can move a question forward .
This book is a committed argument for the holism and embodied nature of ethnographic practice which perhaps speaks more to practicing anthropologists than to its intended audience of executives and business strategists. The ethnographic offer is clearly set out. What is less clear is the means through which it could be taken up by those not already practicing it. Businesses can obviously hire anthropologists and commission ethnography. How people in business could incorporate ethnographic thinking into their professional practice would benefit from more detailed explaining. Ethnographic Thinking presents a convincing argument for the place of anthropology in organizations.
Note: This post was amended by Maia on June 6th 2018 to clarify details of Jay Hasbrouck’s postgraduate research.
Maia Green works on the anthropology of international development and issues of social transformation in East Africa. She has written on diverse topics ranging from anti-witchcraft practices to the proliferation of NGOs. Maia Green teaches at the University of Manchester.
2 Replies to “Anthropology as Strategy: A Review of Jay Hasbrouck’s “Ethnographic Thinking””
I think a big problem is a rigidity of scientific publishing. Yes, ofc, working in a business sector gave me an experience I would not have otherwise had as an anthropologist, the whole internal side/perspective on things. Yet, I do not even know if I could write a viable “scientific” article these days, because it often requires an obligatory homage to the … well whatever was going on scientifically in that field for at least last few decades, and that often is behind the paywalls, so not available for us, mere mortals. Also, without being a part of the institutional matrix and not being a native English speaker… well, then all the editing and other arranging is your own (expensive) problem… which pretty much ends up in “oh screw this, I’d rather blog”. 😀
You make a good point here Aurelija. That rigidity comes from our own discipline and its conventions. The paywall which restricts access is something else. I learned a lot about the challenges of open access versus inclusion from some of the older posts on the previous site. Open access at least makes work available to readers. It doesn’t address the other barriers.