Ethnography, Ethnographers and Hospitality Research: Communities, Tensions and Affiliations

Abstract

This paper examines the professional and moral positions of ethnographers located in institutions specialising in hospitality management. The paper considers the notion of ethnographic subjectivity and argues that ethnographers working in various paradigmatic contexts have differing relationships with the principles and practices of social science, organisation studies and commercial activity. It is suggested that they are simultaneously members of disparate communities with conflicting norms and values. The paper identifies the cultural and institutional forces that shape the absence, presence and the potential future of ethnography in hospitality management research.