Language and Ethnography: Conducting Research in the Kumaun

This chapter presents a thorough description of a young researcher’s attempt to navigate methodological options in conducting ethnographic research focused on language, including theoretical and experiential influences on the methods, the details of what the methods looked like on the field and during analysis, and practical influences that called for adjustments in the original plan. Along with traditional ethnography, the research methodology is influenced by language policy studies, the ethnography of communication and principles of “empowering research,” including components of action research, participatory research methods, and attention to methodological rich points in ethnographic research. Details on the general procedures and the various phases of research help to further contextualize the research and provide a model for organizing observations, interviews, field notes, recordings, translation, and analysis.