Ethnographers often find that the discovery of a mentor, someone who generously unlocks doors and shares invaluable experience with a naive outsider, is a critical turning point in the research process. This article explores a mentor-investigator relationship in ethnographic research within the more specialized field of historical ethnography and through a case of historical ethnography: fieldwork in Chicago’s jazz and blues music scenes from August through October 1924, where the discovery of a mentor has brought an unexpected and original perspective to the research.
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