The origin of the Society for Emerging Ethnographers can be traced to Patton Hall, 305 E. 23rd Street, in Austin, Texas.

In the Summer 2023, the Urban Ethnography Lab at the University of Texas at Austin hosted its inaugural ethnographers’ summer school for scholars across the United States and the world. Toward summer’s end, participants shared a collective wish to keep connected and keep working on the craft.

By the early Spring 2024, Society membership was expanded to include any early-career ethnographer who might benefit from ethnographic programming, professional ties, and opportunities to discuss, in community, methodological challenges.

The Society for Emerging Ethnographers hosts gatherings and events with two fundamental ideas in mind. First, ethnography requires innumerable technique, a complex skillset, and attentive training. And second, inspired by guidance from Javier Auyero, scholars should not problem-solve major ethnographic challenges alone. Our complex work observing social life is best assessed and reassessed within social networks and ethnographic community.

The Society for Emerging Ethnographers is just one organization, among others founded in the last decade, for the advancement of ethnographers and the method.