Dara Ivanova

Losing and Finding: On the Curious Life of Ethnographic Objects

Introduction

Losing and finding: on the curious life of ethnographic objects. Explore how researcher emotions toward ethnographic objects serve as an epistemological tool. This essay examines the evolving relationship with objects, from curiosity to reflexive analysis, using a foundling room example.

Abstract

Dara Ivanova´s essay on Losing and Finding: On the curious Life of ethnographic Objects deals with how a researcher’s emotions towards his or her research object can be turned into an epistemological tool when working ethnographically with an object. Drawing on her work on a foundling room for infants to be left safely and anonymously for adoption, she describes how researcher and research object form a relationship throughout different phases. Following an object means here to find the relationship one builds with the research object: first becoming attached through curiosity, then thinking through the normativities it provokes in the researcher, follow it into the infrastructures in which it is embedded and embrace the researchers’ emotions towards it by finally turning these emotions into a reflexive ground of making, un-making and re-making an object within the research process.

Review

Dara Ivanova's essay, "Losing and Finding: On the Curious Life of Ethnographic Objects," offers a highly intriguing and significant contribution to ethnographic methodology. The abstract successfully outlines a compelling argument that repositions the researcher's emotional engagement with their research object as a potent epistemological tool. By suggesting that emotions can be systematically leveraged for deeper understanding, Ivanova challenges conventional notions of researcher detachment and opens new avenues for reflexive and embodied ethnographic practice. This focus on the affective dimensions of inquiry promises to enrich our understanding of human-object relations. The proposed methodology, illustrated through her work on a foundling room, is particularly well-articulated in its phased approach. Ivanova meticulously describes a process that moves from initial curiosity and attachment to critical reflection on normative provocations, tracing an object's infrastructural embeddedness, and culminating in the conscious embrace and analytical application of the researcher's emotions. This iterative process of "making, un-making and re-making" the object provides a concrete framework for integrating reflexivity and affect, offering a valuable model for ethnographers seeking to navigate the complex, multi-layered lives of objects within their research. While the abstract strongly signals a robust methodological and theoretical intervention, future readers will undoubtedly be keen to delve into the specific mechanisms through which emotions are transformed into an "epistemological tool." The full essay will likely benefit from elaborating on the theoretical frameworks underpinning this transformation and the practical steps involved in systematizing and analyzing these affective responses. Nevertheless, Ivanova's work appears to be a timely and valuable intervention, pushing the boundaries of ethnographic inquiry by foregrounding the researcher's subjective experience as a legitimate and generative site of knowledge production, promising a richer and more nuanced understanding of "the curious life of ethnographic objects."

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