Nightlife Ethnography: A Phenomenological Approach

This chapter offers advice on how to conduct phenomenological ethnographic research in nightlife settings such as bars, nightclubs, and music festivals. It argues that phenomenological ethnography focuses on studying experiences as they occur to the people living them. Phenomenological ethnographers use their bodies as research instruments to develop an experiential connection and understanding of the people they are studying. Priority is given to clarifying essential properties of embodied, emotional, and sensory experiences, and to describing these as precisely as possible. The chapter proposes that the Durkheimian concept of collective effervescence may be used as a sensitizing tool to understand and describe some of the essence of what people search for, and sometimes experience, in nightlife settings. In particular, the concept is helpful in the study of intensive forms of celebration and intoxication. The chapter concludes with policy recommendations and suggestions to direct future research.