This event will include a comparative discussion of the growth of two ethnographic research projects into endeavors of long duration and large-scale infrastructures: the cases of the Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) and the Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography (PECE).

While it is increasingly common that research careers in Anthropology which begin in personally scaled ethnographic fieldwork then join large organized collaborative projects, it is still unusual to find originary ethnography itself evolving into large-scale research endeavors of long duration and complex infrastructures. Such research entrepreneurship with the sustained value of ethnographic knowledge as its base is a methodological frontier of the discipline that is distinctively explored currently at UCI. This event offers a comparative perspective on two such important research endeavors in expansive ethnography being undertaken currently at UCI.

This event will include presentations by Bill Maurer, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Kim and Mike Fortun, UCI Deptartment of Anthropology, and comments by Nick Seaver, Tufts University