Extraordinary Ethnographic Encounters in Extraordinary Times.

A Plea for Experimental Interventions in More-than-Business Relations

Abstract

This contribution reconsiders ethnographic encounters with mainstream market actors in light of the ever-intensifying ecological crisis caused by prevalent patterns of economic activities. Effective experimental interventions in hegemonic configurations of capitalism are hitherto hard to realize due to fundamental incompatibilities between the logic of academic ethnographic work and that of conventional business operations. Viewing the private sector as comprised of interconnections of economic activities and knowledge production diminishes the epistemic pitfalls of such encounters. Based on empirical insights into the food sector, this paper suggests discarding the view of collaborations with economic actors as dyadic. Instead, it makes a case for approaching more-than-business networks that inextricably link knowledge and business practices. Such experimental interventions may tackle three constitutive pillars of contemporary capitalism: relations between localized knowledge practices and overarching discursive forms; relations between formalized expertise and market operations; and relations among conflicting truth claims and value arguments.