Ethnography and Political Science: the Exceptionality of the Spanish Case

Abstract

Political ethnography is a methodological approach increasingly used in the international Political Science; however, it has been used scarcely in the Spanish Political Science. In this article, we question, first, the place of ethnography in political studies in the country. We explore the causes of ethnography’s marginal position. Second, we show how this methodological approach can enrich and complement current political studies, introducing new research topics, new cases on classical problems, and new evidence. Beyond rigid disciplinary boundaries, we propose the full incorporation of ethnography into the Spanish Political Science in order to take advantage of the strengths of this approach.