Who makes the earth groan? Notes on the day-to-day of an employment and unemployment research

Abstract

This paper shows an ethnography of human sciences practices. In an autoanthropology experience, the author aims to follow the trajectory of construction of statistical data in the case of Pesquisa de Emprego e Desemprego da Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre (PED-RMPA). Therefore, the used methodology comprehends the observant participation (because the researcher is both ethnographer and member of the researched group), whose notes were registered in a field diary, interviews with workmates and analyses of PED’s documents, especially the manuals. These materials suggest statistical data is a collective that can carry a universe. This paper also reflects on the ability of agency of things that make up this universe. And about the viability of an autoanthropology experience.