Abstract

SCHIJMAN, EMILIA. ETHNOGRAPHY OF ADMINISTRATIVE FILES. REQUESTS AND MINOR COMPLAINTS IN A SOCIAL HOUSING DISTRICT. Rev. colomb. antropol. [online]. 2010, vol.46, n.2, pp.279-305. ISSN 0486-6525.

This paper, an ethnographic research in a town of Paris' periphery, presents a methodological debate regarding the analysis of a set of writings found in situ: a notebook for requests in a public window that informs about the ongoing urban renovation and about hundreds of letters sent to the social housing institution. The aim is to examine the administrative files as an ethnographic document that involves different scales of analysis (ethnographic, sociological, historiographical). Once files are decoded, the article describes some traits of the popular housing: conflicts, successive requests, complaints and recriminations.

Keywords : administrative files; "ordinary writing"; ethnography; social housing.

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