Article Immersion in the bureaucratic field: Methodological pathways Eric Komlavi Hahonou Roskilde University, Denmark Tomas Max Martin DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture, Denmark Abstract The introduction argues that while the legitimacy of bureaucracy as an object of inquiry is well established, little is generally said on the methodologies mobilized by ethnog- raphers to study the bureaucratic field. The special issue is a contribution to fill this gap. The authors characterize bureaucracy as a mode of control by way of four dimensions—service, rule, violence, and secrecy—and propose three methodological pathways through which ethnographers may immerse in the bureaucratic field. The first pathway, “stages,” is concerned with the methodological reflections on accessing the bureaucratic stage and of being led in by bureaucrats as they perform their stage work. The second focuses on “techniques” and considers the implications of immersing one- self in a distinct technical landscape. The third pathway concerns the ethnographer’s positionality, drawing attention to the deep reflexivity and unstable ethics of bureaucracy ethnography. The authors invite bureaucracy ethnographers to pursue these pathways and to engage in a critical reflection on their fieldwork practices. Keywords Bureaucracy, ethnography, method, immersion, reflexivity, ethics Corresponding author: Eric Komlavi Hahonou, Department of Social Sciences and Business, Roskilde University, Building 23.2, Universitetsvej 11, PO Box 260, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. Email: komlavi@ruc.dk Tomas Max Martin, Senior Research, DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture, Bryggervangen 56, DK-2100, Denmark. Email: tm@dignity.dk Critique of Anthropology 0(0) 1–17 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0308275X19842921 journals.sagepub.com/home/coa