Ethnographic Support for City Innovation

Department of Anthropology Collaborates with Innovate Memphis; supports student researchers.

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis is in its third year of funding from Innovate Memphis to support a shared vision for innovative, community-driven research. Innovate Memphis is a local organization striving for dynamic change in neighborhoods and communities in Memphis through building innovative public/private strategies and capacities. Since 2021, Innovate Memphis has funded the “Ethnographic Support for City Innovation” project, which supports qualitative research by University of Memphis anthropologists. 

The initial fellowship was spearheaded by Co-PIs Dr. Keri Brondo and Dr. Lindsey Raisa Feldman. It supported an M.A. student in Anthropology, Jennie Doss, to work on several community development projects with Innovate Memphis. In its second year, Dr. Lindsey Raisa Feldman served as project PI and continued to support Jennie Doss to design user experience (UX) research initiatives, investigate the community and organizational impact of grants, analyze data usage in nonprofits, and conduct research on the city’s solid waste management systems and how to mitigate issues of blight and illegal dumping. The ’23-24 funding supports Dr. Lindsey Feldman, assistant professor in Anthropology, and a new M.A. student in Anthropology, Meghan Moody, on a wide range of research agendas, including collecting user experience (UX) data, survey and focus group design, and qualitative support for project implementation.

In addition to the direct impact this ethnographic research has had on supporting programs and projects at Innovate Memphis, the “Ethnographic Support for City Innovation” grant underscores how essential qualitative skills like anthropology and ethnography are to the innovation process at Innovate Memphis and beyond. Innovate Memphis believes the best solutions start with a clear understanding of the experiences of people who stand to benefit from their work. The impact of ethnographic research helps community-driven organizations better understand root causes, lived experiences, and helps to more clearly anticipate how ideas on paper will play out in the real world.

For more information on this research, contact Feldman at lrfldman@memphis.edu.