International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology

We have come a long way from Evans-Pritchard's famous dictum that "e;there is only one method in social anthropology, the comparative method - and that is impossible."e; Yet a good 40 years later, qualitative social inquiry still has an uneasy relationship with comparison. This volume sets out "e;thick comparison"e; as a means to revive "e;comparing"e; as a productive process in ethnographic work: a process that helps to revitalise the articulation work inherent in analytical ethnographies; to vary observer perspectives and point towards "e;blind spots;"e; to name and create "e;new things"e; and modes of empirical work and to give way to intensified dialogues between data analysis and theorizing.Contributors are Katrin Amelang, Stefan Beck, Kati Hannken-Illjes, Alexander Kozin, Henriette Langstrup, Jorg Niewohner, Thomas Scheffer, Robert Schmidt, Estrid Sorensen, and Britt Ross Winthereik.