Table Of ContentDirections in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE
FIELDWORK AND CONCEPTUALIZATION IN
SOCIAL INQUIRY
Kornelia Engert
‘Empirically, the book follows its actors in all potential corners of their doing and
thinking, their movements and looks, their encounters with others and themselves.
Notably, it is the theme of self-encounter that pervades the analysis. Time after
time, observers relate to themselves, to their actions, and their (non-)impact, their
competencies and their (inchoate) knowledge. Thus, it becomes apparent that the
classic definition of the “situation” is also at stake and that the interaction with
oneself should be conceived as a social situation.’
—Herbert Kalthoff, University of Mainz, Germany
‘I find this an innovative, empirically wide-ranging, and conceptually rich and
developed work (…), commensurate with its broad, discipline-transcending inter-
est and potential impact. Although all kinds of textbooks, books of advice, and
essayistic renderings of various aspects of the research process exist – more in the
humanities than in sociology – none display the same level of detail, observational
perceptiveness, and theoretical sensitivity to the research process and its various
components as this one (…). The chapter on writing in particular comes close to
a conversation analysis study of the “succession” of the writing process and its
many aspects, including that of generating ideas while writing and of dissociating
oneself from the text and then re-appropriating it as an interaction party – as a
communicative other.’
—Karin Knorr Cetina, The University of Chicago, USA
The Body of Knowledge
This book presents a vivid and close-up view of social science researchers
engaged in fieldwork, in discussions with colleagues, and in writing. Adopting an
ethnographic approach inspired by ethnomethodology and conversation analysis,
the author pursues a praxeological analysis of social inquiry in situ. By conceiving
of analytical practices such as observation, shop talk, and conceptualization in
experiential terms, the seen but unnoticed structures of knowledge work are
exposed and made available for empirical analysis.
In a departure from ethnographic studies of research that focus on the physical
sciences, the author uses the example of sociological research to shed new light
on the role of self and mind for epistemic cultures, on the elusive materiality of
conceptual objects, and on researchers’ experiential ways of seizing, reviewing,
and accrediting knowledge.
A rich and pervasive study of elementary sites in the research process, The
Body of Knowledge will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, and the
humanities with interests in the epistemic practice of their own discipline, as well
as those working in fields such as the social study of science, ethnomethodology
and conversation analysis, and the sociology of interaction.
Kornelia Engert is Research Associate at the Johannes Gutenberg University of
Mainz, Germany.
Directions in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Series Editors:
Andrew Carlin, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China
K. Neil Jenkings, Newcastle University, UK
Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis are cognate approaches to the study
of social action that together comprise a major perspective within the contemporary
human sciences. Ethnomethodology focuses upon the production of situated and
ordered social action of all kinds, whilst Conversation Analysis has a more specific
focus on the production and organisation of talk-in-interaction. Of course, given that
so much social action is conducted in and through talk, there are substantive as well
theoretical continuities between the two approaches. Focusing on social activities as
situated human productions, these approaches seek to analyse the intelligibility and
accountability of social activities ‘from within’ those activities themselves, using
methods that can be analysed and described. Such methods amount to aptitudes,
skills, knowledge and competencies that members of society use, rely upon and take
for granted in conducting their affairs across the whole range of social life.
As a result of the methodological rewards consequent upon their unique analytic
approach and attention to the detailed orderliness of social life, Ethnomethodol-
ogy and Conversation Analysis have ramified across a wide range of human sci-
ence disciplines throughout the world, including anthropology, social psychology,
linguistics, communication studies and social studies of science and technology.
This series is dedicated to publishing the latest work in these two fields, includ-
ing research monographs, edited collections and theoretical treatises. As such, its
volumes are essential reading for those concerned with the study of human con-
duct and aptitudes, the (re)production of social orderliness and the methods and
aspirations of the social sciences.
The Body of Knowledge
Fieldwork and Conceptualization in Social Inquiry
Kornelia Engert
Harold Garfinkel
Studies of Work in the Sciences
Harold Garfinkel and Michael Lynch
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Directions-
in-Ethnomethodology-and-Conversation-Analysis/book-series/ASHSER1190
The Body of Knowledge
Fieldwork and Conceptualization
in Social Inquiry
Kornelia Engert
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 Kornelia Engert
The right of Kornelia Engert to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 9780367438883 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032214269 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003006251 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003006251
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of illustrations ix
Notes on transcription xi
Acknowledgements xiv
1 Research unsettled: bodies of knowledge in social inquiry 1
2 Grounds of fieldwork: making experiences, taking
records, filing the social 25
3 Talk-at-hand: conversational spaces for handling
conceptual objects 88
4 Shops of writing and the practice of self-review 149
5 How bodies attach to conceptual objects: from ‘careers’ of
facts to fields and shops of inquiry 198
Index 208
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Improvising scopes of vision 38
2.2 The interview reserve: affable environments, accommodated
respondents 51
2.3 The exposed interview: irritable environments, respondents afoot 52
2.4 Securing data, settling things, settling oneself 55
2.5 Pre-script for scripting questions 70
3.1 Auditorium and podium: elevating speakers and attendants 96
3.2 Situated interchanges of speaking and positioning in podium
arrangements 97
3.3 Changes of ‘shop’ during a speech: from lecture to seminar 97
3.4 Variations of and interludes from ex cathedra podium arrangements 98
3.5 The fringes of advertence in podium arrangements 98
3.6 Embodying deliveries: handling conceptual objects 100
3.7 Embodying reception: grasping oneself and seizing conceptual
objects 100
3.8 Kinematic reasoning: the elaboration and manifestation of
notions 103
3.9 Delivering and confining notions 103
3.10 The look: peering at others 114
3.11 Inclination: hanging on to others 114
3.12 Craning one’s neck for peers: advertising curiosity 115
3.13 Leaning forward while peering: reducing focal distance 115
3.14 Narrowing and pursing: calibrating apertures of sensing 116
3.15 Shifting and weighing perspectives 116
3.16 Prescriptions as prompts 118
3.17 Allocating writing spaces according to one’s own and others’
relevancies 119
3.18 Unsettling oneself: unsettling notions 120
3.19 Revising scripts, reconsidering statements 127
3.20 Aligning one’s own and others’ responsive attention to the
manuscript 129
