Sight, Sound, Touch: A Methodological Exploration of Ontological Effects in an Ethnographic Study

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore an alternative to traditional meaning-making interpretive analyses in ethnographic work. Underlying the article is my own ethnographic work with adults diagnosed with autism. The autism theme forms an example of the methodological exploration at work. I am inspired by the ontological turn in anthropology and carnal philosophy, and the methodological exploration is driven by the question about what things and practices in the informants’ lives can be seen as having ontological effects rather than epistemic value. The methodological pivot is three interview situations, extended into virtual meetings, all given extensive space in the article and where autism unfolds as various practices based on sense impressions. These practices are not seen as representations of an underlying static ontology but as performances that make worlds emerge through the relations they are part of.