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The ‘drive and talk’ as ethnographic method
Author(s) -
Drew Georgina,
Skinner William,
Bardsley Douglas K.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8322.12725
Subject(s) - ethnography , experiential learning , context (archaeology) , set (abstract data type) , sociology , value (mathematics) , scale (ratio) , participant observation , epistemology , aesthetics , media studies , computer science , social science , history , anthropology , geography , pedagogy , archaeology , art , philosophy , cartography , machine learning , programming language
Anthropologists have long embraced the value of the ‘walk and talk’ ethnographic method, which is an interactive means of generating research insights in situ – on site. In this article, we propose that there is room for an expanded appreciation of the ‘drive and talk’ method. While driving and talking with their interlocutors, researchers can elicit information prompted by features in the landscape and the environment that might be otherwise forgotten or overlooked if the interview context was set in a fixed location. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, this article explains the empirical and phenomenological (sensorial and experiential) insights yielded by driving and talking with interlocutors in a South Australian wine‐growing region. Automobility has the advantage over ambulation when it comes to accessing landscapes at the scale of the farm, which is where environmental management decisions are on heightened display.