Revealers, Skeptics, and Witnesses: Advancing a Witness Methodology in Ethnographic Theology and Ethics
In: Ecclesial PracticesSearch for other papers by Ryan Juskus in
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Abstract
Drawing on original ethnographic fieldwork with a Christian environmental initiative in Appalachia and Alabama, this article argues that moral theologians should conceive of ethnography as witnessing witnesses to aid and multiply witnesses. An ethnographic ‘witness methodology’ is contrasted with two other approaches that the author calls revealer and skeptic methodologies. This witness methodology is developed primarily by analyzing a creation care organization’s practice of citizen science in places devastated by coal mining and coal burning. The author develops the concept of witness by reflecting on his role in helping the organization develop a slogan to describe their work and how this slogan encapsulates their citizen science practice. Though developed primarily in conversation with the author’s fieldwork, the proposed witness methodology is also supported through dialogue with Scripture, Christian ethics, and cultural anthropology.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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| Abstract Views | 182 | 0 | 0 |
| Full Text Views | 336 | 235 | 25 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 215 | 69 | 8 |
Revealers, Skeptics, and Witnesses: Advancing a Witness Methodology in Ethnographic Theology and Ethics
In: Ecclesial PracticesSearch for other papers by Ryan Juskus in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Drawing on original ethnographic fieldwork with a Christian environmental initiative in Appalachia and Alabama, this article argues that moral theologians should conceive of ethnography as witnessing witnesses to aid and multiply witnesses. An ethnographic ‘witness methodology’ is contrasted with two other approaches that the author calls revealer and skeptic methodologies. This witness methodology is developed primarily by analyzing a creation care organization’s practice of citizen science in places devastated by coal mining and coal burning. The author develops the concept of witness by reflecting on his role in helping the organization develop a slogan to describe their work and how this slogan encapsulates their citizen science practice. Though developed primarily in conversation with the author’s fieldwork, the proposed witness methodology is also supported through dialogue with Scripture, Christian ethics, and cultural anthropology.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 182 | 0 | 0 |
| Full Text Views | 336 | 235 | 25 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 215 | 69 | 8 |
