Speaking About Class (Again)

An Introduction

Abstract

This introduction to the 86th volume of Kulturanthropologie Notizen addresses the question of what role the structural category and experiential dimension of 'class' can play in ethnographic research practice. It advocates for a renewed and extensive methodological debate on the relationship between ethnography and class, given the resurgence of the concept of class in the German-speaking world. The guest editors of this volume explore very specific possibilities using examples from their own research, examining the interplay between more empirical and more theoretical understandings of class. In doing so, they adopt a relational perspective that focuses on the co-constitution of (biographical) experiences of class and their structural contexts.