Lessons of the Lower Ninth: Methodology and epistemology of video ethnography

This essay is an account of use and advocacy of video ethnography as a social research method. We focus on the contemporary technology of digital video in contrast to prior methods of ethnographic data collection, using the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to describe the capture of an infrastructural context. The importance of audio is emphasized, including the sound of silence and natural sound. Comparing camcorders to still cameras, we argue that former are superior for methodological reasons, including vivacity and deflection (the process through which methodological tools construct the boundaries of interaction). We conclude by arguing that video ethnography has important epistemological consequences, representing an opportunity for the expansion of social scientific outputs, understanding, and public engagement.