The Postmodern Ethnographic Flaneur: Studying Hyper-Mediated Everyday Life

Author:

• Charles E. Soukup (Univ of Northern Colorado)

Abstract:

In this essay, I consider ethnography's unique capacity to explore and explain the postmodern, fragmented experiences of everyday "mediated" life. The saturation of mediated communication in contemporary cultural life demands that ethnographers develop alterative methods of social research. In order to understand how postmodern, mediated experiences fit into everyday cultural practices, I argue that ethnographers should embrace the mobilized gaze of the flaneur.