People who drink tea, fishermen and women, and stand-up comedians have an unexpected thing in common -- they’ll be among the 50 papers presented at a three-day event at the University of Portsmouth next week.
The University is hosting the two-day conference for ethnographers -- social scientists who study people in their natural environment.
Researchers from across the world will present their work on tea drinking in planning organisations, fishermen at sea, the working lives of stand-up comedians and interpreting Bedouin culture in the Middle East.
The 14th Annual Ethnography Symposium, hosted by the University’s Faculties of Business and Law and Humanities and Social Sciences is on August 28-30.
Delegates from all over the world including Australia, the USA, Japan, Europe and the UK are expected at the event themed “Seeing, Sensing and Following”.
Last year’s event was hosted by the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark with the torch passing soon afterwards to Portsmouth.
Co-organisers of the conference Dr Sarah Charman from the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies and Dr Hamid Foroughi of Portsmouth School of Business and Law said: “We’re delighted to be hosting the 14thEthnography Symposium here at Portsmouth. Not only do we welcome such an eclectic variety of academics from different disciplines but the conference has a strong focus on doctoral students and on providing specific workshops and seminars for them which focus upon researching and writing ethnographically.”