The Tale of Two Ramadans: Crisis and Comparison in a Single-Case Ethnography

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Abstract

While multi-site and cross-group comparisons are the dominant frameworks in ethnographic research design, I propose that comparison across time—within the same individuals and social contexts—offers a valuable methodological tool. In this paper, I explore how moments of ‘eventful rupture’ can serve as an implicit comparative framework within single-case ethnographies. Drawing from my fieldwork among a group of young Syrian men in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, I examine how a sudden regulatory crackdown in late 2018 reshaped their experiences of exile, work, and social life, highlighting the methodological and theoretical potential of intra-case temporal comparisons. Prior to the crackdown, their lives were marked by a relative degree of stability; many had established small businesses or secured employment, and their social world reflected efforts to recreate a sense of communal belonging in displacement. This was particularly evident during Ramadan 2018, when daily rituals, collective meals, and religious observance fostered a semblance of cultural continuity. By Ramadan 2019, economic hardship, social isolation, and a pervasive sense of insecurity had taken hold, leading to a decline in collective religious practice, fractured social ties, and a growing urgency to seek onward migration. Through this ‘tale of two Ramadans,’ I argue that ethnographers can leverage moments of rupture to engage in comparative analysis within a single case, tracking shifts in social practices, cultural meaning-making, and decision-making processes in real time. I call for a broader conceptual vocabulary to articulate the forms of comparison that single-case ethnographies already engage in, particularly in cases marked by social and political upheaval.

Author

• Samuel Dinger, New School for Social Research