This course is a critical introduction to key debates and theoretical currents that have shaped ethnographic research and writing since the mid-20th century. Once the province of anthropologists studying places they labelled ‘culturally different,’ ethnography now signifies a wide range of interpretive methodologies in the social sciences that are unified by a commitment to the in-situ study of social life. The method’s promise comes from deep engagement with the ideas and experiences of others, but its practice also raises deep questions about objectivity, positionality, reflexivity, power, and the politics of representing culture difference. Taking this tension as our point of departure, we use ethnography as a lens for studying decades of debates over the practice, politics, and ethics of social knowledge production. We begin by interrogating that classical structuralist and interpretivist perspectives that once defined the method. From there, we pivot into the diverse currents that have shaped ethnographic research since the 1970s, including feminist ethnography, Marxist political economy, postcolonial theory, gender studies, STS, and infrastructure studies. In doing this, we also analyze how the practice of research––including observation, notetaking, and translation––has evolved and shaped different approaches to writing and representation.