Register to Attend the Workshop: Protest*Ethnography Ethnographies of Protests — Ethnography as Protest
Workshop, University of Bremen, 8–9 October 2026
Political protest, contention, and resistance occur largely outside formal institutions. As movements increasingly rely on self-organised structures and platform-based digital networks, “classical” social movement organisations are losing their central role in mobilising contentious politics. Moreover, political protest encompasses a diverse range of worldviews, motivations, and goals: from far-right, anti-democratic mobilisations to (counter)movements seeking emancipation and democratic renewal. At the same time, protesters challenge social and political conditions that are highly complex and often opaque.
In this context, political scientists must move beyond some of the discipline’s traditional methodological anchors. When there are no official documents, legislative proposals, organisational charts, speeches, or voting records to analyse, researchers need to turn to direct observation, interviews, social-network and power analysis, or collaborative research. These approaches, in turn, require ethnographic tools that foster immersion, rapport, reflexivity, and sensitivity.
This workshop is an invitation to collectively reflect on ethnographic perspectives and challenges arising from studying contentious politics and protest. Questions for discussion include but are not limited to:
What counts as protest?
How to pinpoint ongoing protests as dynamic phenomena?
How to follow the moral careers of individuals and collectives?
How to access protests, establish rapport, and deal with public impact?
How to relate ethnographic protest research to other approaches such as media-based protest event analysis or protest surveys
How to communicate project proposals and findings to colleagues, stakeholders, funders, and public audiences?
The workshop will take place in Bremen on October 8–9, 2026 (in person). Please note that travel, accommodation, and meals (lunch/dinner) need to be covered by the participants. We explicitly welcome participation from both early-stage and experienced researchers.
Please register at ethnografie@dvpw.de until July 15, 2026. Download program here (link).
Program
Thursday, October 8 2026
1.30 pm Welcome & Getting to know each other
2–3.30 pm Session 1: What is Protest and what can Ethnography do?
Inputs by: Nina Krienke, University of Bremen; Felix Anderl, Marburg University
3.30–4 pm Coffee Break
4–5.30 pm Session 2: Should we call this (Counter-)Protest?
Inputs by: Sabine Volk, University of Tübingen; Florian Spissinger, DHBW Villingen-Schwenningen & Julia Leser, IFSH
6 pm Keynote: Welcome to the Field? Verbal Slaps and Apple Strudel in Ethnographic Research on the Far Right by Piotr Kocyba & Alexander Leistner, Leipzig University
8 pm Dinner
Friday, October 9, 2026
9–10.30 am Session 3: Unintended Ethnographies and Hidden Fields
Inputs by: Amelie Harbisch, Erfurt University; Alicja Palęcka, Polish Academy of Sciences
10.30–10.45 am Coffee Break
10.45–12.15 pm Session 4: Ethnographic Research in Polarized Environments
Inputs by: Leslie Gauditz, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg; Javier Toscano, Humboldt University Berlin; Chiara Mattioli, University of Tübingen
12.15–12.30 pm Coffee Break
12.30–1.15 pm Plenary & Planning Session: What’s Next?
1.15 pm Lunch