The author discusses the application of the concepts of objectivity and subjectivity in ethnographic theory and research, and finds that one kind of subjectivity, that of applying a particular perspective to ethnography, is central and inevitable. Today, we acknowledge that objectivity is relative to a given perspective or preunderstanding, but the applied perspective must compete with other perspectives or paradigms in its effectiveness in our understanding and managing of a lived reality. In some situations, where no such fruitful alternative exists, a simple correspondence between word and world can be an acceptable notion of truth. Here, an all-encompassing consensus of what would be objective and subjective can be expected. Thus, the concepts retain a central function without completely altering the meanings they have in everyday and scientific language, although the values traditionally ascribed to the notions have changed to some extent and a more refined conceptualization has been reached.
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