Lost in Space? Ethnography and the Disparate Geographies of Social Process * Christian M. Anderson The Graduate Center of the City University of New York Amidst ongoing and far-reaching shifts in the spatial organization of social relations, ethnographic researchers have struggled to develop adequately nuanced critical analyses of the subjectivities and agencies involved. In this context, many contemporary ethnographic studies have posited key social forms as “global,” external, or otherwise largely given. Important social and political issues can get lost in this articulation. Interweaving preliminary findings from an ongoing study in New York City with work by geographers who employ a process-based conceptualization of their objects, I outline a geo-ethnographic approach to understanding extralocal social relations that infuses a critically conscientious spatialization into these debates. Key Words: ethnography, process, space, time. En medio de los cambios en curso y de mayor alcance en la organizaci ´ on espacial de las relaciones sociales, los investigadores etnogr´ aficos han tenido problemas para desarrollar adecuadamente matizados an ´ alisis cr´ ıticos de las subjetividades y las agencias involucradas. En este contexto, muchos estudios etnogr ´ aficos contempor´ aneos han postulado formas sociales claves como “globales”, externas, o si no dadas en gran medida. Importantes temas sociales y pol´ ıticos se pueden perder en esta articulaci ´ on. Entretejiendo los resultados preliminares de un estudio en curso en Nueva York con el trabajo de ge ´ ografos que emplean una concepci ´ on de sus prop ´ ositos basada en el proceso, esbozo un enfoque geo-etnogr´ afico para la comprensi ´ on de las relaciones sociales extralocales que infunden una espacializaci ´ on cr´ ıticamente consciente en estos debates. Palabras claves: etnograf´ ıa, proceso, espacio, tiempo. T his article addresses two conjoined issues. First, it highlights the complex intersec- tions among space, subjectivity, and agency that contemporary ethnographers must increasingly confront in their work. In pursuing this aim, I briefly survey a range of recent ethnographic studies to demonstrate how and why questions of space and the spatial organization of social relations have become central to contemporary ethnographic practice. I then call attention to some problematic political and social implica- ∗ My thanks to Kari Jensen for organizing a stimulating session about ethnography in geography for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Las Vegas and for offering insightful feedback on early drafts. Cindi Katz and extraordinary colleagues in the Spacetime Research Collective at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York helped to cultivate the ideas presented here, every step of the way. Two anonymous reviewers gave detailed comments that resulted in a stronger and more thorough article. Of course, I take sole credit for any erroneousness. tions that follow from the ways space is often framed in relation to the subjectivity and agency of those who are the focus of these studies. The second aim of the article, building on the first, is to outline how emerging spatial- theoretical frameworks from geography have grappled with some of these conceptual chal- lenges and shortcomings in a manner that could make ethnographic research productive in fun- damentally different ways than it has been in the past. In articulating this aim, I have The Professional Geographer, 64(2) 2012, pages 276–285 C  Copyright 2012 by Association of American Geographers. Initial submission, December 2009; revised submission, June 2010; final acceptance, September 2010. Published by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.