Ethnography and the fragility of presence

By contrast with other methodologies within the social sciences, the defining feature of ethnography is the presence of the researcher. However, the analytical assumptions used throughout the twentieth century to conceptualize what constitutes ‘presence’ now call for reconsideration. Inspired by a number of interdisciplinary influences, as well as by Ernesto De Martino's formulation of the apocalyptic question (‘can the world end?’), this paper argues that presence and absence (both our own and that of everything else) are functions of the world and always involve determination through relation to other, always pre-existing, aspects of the world. A person's sense of self constitutes a ‘bubble of presence’ that requires constant labour to sustain. By considering the relation between bereavement and mourning, the paper argues that the transcendence giving rise to presence and absence is itself an aspect of life. As a technical gesture, ethnography mobilizes the researcher's capacity for transcendence in order to transcend it once again, thereby hoping to contribute to an expanded record of the human condition.