Inventive Methods. Künstlerische Ansätze in der ethnographischen Stadtforschung

Abstract

In the field of contemporary urban research, there is a growing realization that urban configurations, collective imaginations as well as complex networks of power cannot be examined and interpreted adequately by applying only classical methods of social science. This text looks at different kinds of knowledge production within the research and exhibition project Global Prayers focusing on processes of research, the invention of ­methods, the collection and analysis of data, and their translation into formats for presentation. In the context of theoretical concepts on the role of ethnographic and artistic research, examples from the Global Prayers project are re-viewed to analyze several methodological procedures, such as multi-sited ethnography, sound recordings, enactments, and interventions as promising challenges for inventive urban research.