Fieldwork in a furnace: anarchists, anti-authoritarians and militant ethnography

Abstract

Militant ethnography is a burgeoning, deliberately politicised approach to qualitative research, that helps activist-researchers engage with the cultural logic and practices underpinning contemporary anti-authoritarian social movements. Despite its ascendancy amongst researchers investigating contemporary anarchist and anti-authoritarian social movements, militant ethnographic approaches have had limited broader exposure amongst qualitative researchers. With this in mind, my article serves three purposes. First, it acquaints a wider audience of qualitative researchers with militant ethnography. Second, and with reference to insights collaboratively produced during my own militant ethnographic research alongside Greek anarchists and anti-authoritarians, it shares some of the cultural logic and practices underpinning anarchist and anti-authoritarian activity in this space. Third, I make a novel case for the extended application of militant ethnography, so that it accommodates the dissemination of field-constructed knowledge and insights amongst kindred political networks in other locations.