Dismantling the Ethnographer’s House

On Mexican Middle Classes and Shopping Malls

Abstract

Following Audre Lorde, this paper reflects on how to decolonize the ethnographic endeavor, arguing that every ethnographic inquiry should begin with a critical evaluation of our own class consciousness in relation to our field, and focusing on how class consciousness is inscribed onto our own bodies no less than onto the bodies of our interlocutors. Shopping malls are epitomes of neoliberal capitalism, serving as spaces where middle classes converge under one roof. Particularly in a neo-colonial context like Mexico’s, malls tease questions of class in a distinctive manner by utilizing the body as advertising platform. This paper argues that my position as white upper-middle-class (cis)woman from the global north was not only the primary tool that facilitated this research but a tool that significantly influenced its direction and focus. Simultaneously, it raised broader questions concerning intersectional inequalities under neoliberal capitalism and underscores our ethical responsibilities as ethnographers.