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Paper short abstract

Drawing on my undergraduate and masters research, I suggest that patchwork ethnography is a product of cultivation. Far from being the ‘easy option’, it requires and develops specific skills. And, just like a cultivated plant, the final ethnography patchwork emerges and surprises the researcher.

Paper long abstract

Drawing on my undergraduate and masters ethnographic research, this paper invites us to consider a fundamental methodological shift: What would it mean for the discipline if we started treating continuous, long-term fieldwork as the exception, not the rule? We must critically examine what the historical preference for uninterrupted research implies about the researchers it has marginalized.

This paper argues that patchwork ethnography is not the 'easy option,' but is instead a product of cultivation. Like any craft, it demands significant labor and time to hone. My own experience was challenging; reflecting on the struggles where circumstance required this approach showed me that achieving the ideal careful, systematic work is hard-won. The rigor demands specific skills unknowingly learnt during the process—capacities like robust time management, creating systems, and maintaining inductive curiosity. This practiced labor has historically been the necessary alternative for researchers, particularly women and those with care responsibilities, who had to negotiate alternatives to the autonomous fieldworker ideal.

The true moment of insight is the surprise when the research all ‘comes together’. Just like a cultivated plant emerging from careful tending, the final patchwork ethnography unexpectedly comes together. By recognising this systematic rigour, we might be able to establish a more inclusive and relevant methodological standard for the future of the discipline.