Critical ethnography asks what could be rather than describes what is (Thomas 1993, 4). It assumes that cultures are positioned unequally in power relations. Central to the approach is an emphasis on an active and creative citizen and a dialectical relationship between human social practices, human consciousness and social structures (Beach, 2010). Observational practice is never neutral (Walford, 2008). A researcher’s interest reveals itself through the appropriation of theories for guiding the identification of which questions to pose and how to produce, interpret and analyze data in relation to posed questions (Larsson, 2006). What assumptions do influence data producing and analysis and what consequences do the representations we make for those people studied? How people are represented is how they are treated according to Hall (1997). As ethnographers we have an ethical responsibility to address processes of unfairness and injustice. According to Madison (2005, p. 4) ethnographers taking this seriously have to be engage in different questions where the most important are: 1. How do we reflect upon and evaluate our own purpose, intentions, and frames of analysis as researchers? 2. How do we predict consequences or evaluate our own potential to do harm? 3. How do we create and maintain a dialogue of collaboration in our research projects between ourselves and others? 4. How is the specificity of the local story relevant to the broader meanings and operations of the human condition? 5. How-in what location or through what intervention-will our work make the greatest contribution to equity, freedom, and justice? The aim of the paper is to discuss what ethical responsibility we as critical ethnographers have. Central questions to pose are how to bring taken-for-granted assumptions into light. To take this seriously a theoretically informed methodology for ethnography should be a prerequisite for a living dialectic between produced data and theory.

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