Ethnography with Love and Duende: The Promise of Ethnography in a Democratic Society (On Receiving The CAE 2016 George and Louise Spindler Award)

This article is a slightly edited version of my invited award talk, delivered just days after the presidential election, when I received the George and Louise Spindler Award at the annual business meeting of the Council on Anthropology and Education, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 2016. In those first days after the election we were all stunned and trying to understand what the new Trump era would mean and how we as educational anthropologists would go forward with our continued efforts to conduct research that contributed to a more democratic and just society. Grave concerns, renewed determination, and an abundance of emotion were prominent in shaping my remarks that night.