💥 Interpretive Policy Analysis conference update 💥

The call for papers is now open for the IPA-EUR 2027 in Budapest!

This panel stands at the intersection of political theory, interpretive methods, and attempts to remake the world. Drawing on empirical insights from the Americas, all four papers explore the relationship between how we understand the world and how we try to change it.

Recent edited volumes (e.g. Yanow and Schwartz-Shea 2012, Cyr and Goodman 2024) have made the fundamentals of interpretivism accessible to a wider audience. Where does the methods conversation go next? The papers on this panel suggest productive new directions.

The roundtable brings together ten scholars from varied ranks, subfields, and institutions to explore trends, challenges, and the future of interpretive methodologies and methods training in political science today.

The Interpretive Methodologies & Methods group is delighted to host our 20th annual Methods Café, an opportunity for social scientists at all career levels to learn more about interpretive methods. First initiated by Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea in 2005, the Café has been a successful and well-attended part of APSA for twenty years.

Join us for a pre-APSA short course featuring workshops and a panel for scholars working with art, pop culture and other cultural texts and practices.

The deadline for submitting proposals to the panels of the 14th Interpretive Policy Analysis Conference (IPA2026BR) has been extended until 29 June 2026!‍ IPA2026BR will take place from 9–11 November 2026 in Brasília, Brazil.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

John Boswell (University of Southampton) will discuss the use of meta-ethnography in his forthcoming book, How Citizens Encounter the Democratic State (Oxford University Press, 2026).

The talk is open to the public, but registration is required. Please register by clicking here.

The Spotlight Scholars program highlights outstanding early-career scholars whose work showcases or advances interpretive approaches to the study of politics. On May 1st, our 2025-2026 Spotlight Scholars, Mazie Bernard (Purdue University), Winston Berg (Harvard University), and Tadek Markiewicz (SWPS University in Warsaw) will present their work before we open it up for a Q&A from the audience.

This event is open to the public, but please register by clicking here.

A worldwide thirtieth anniversary celebration of Dvora Yanow ’s How Does a Policy Mean? (Georgetown UP, 1996).

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Anastasia Shesterinina (The University of York) will discuss the ins and outs of life history interviewing in her work with ordinary people who participated in different ways in the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993, former mid-level commanders of the FARC-EP in Colombia, and the broader Civil War Paths project she leads. 

The talk is free and open to the public, but please register here.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Rich Nielsen (MIT) will discuss the ways in which he has sought to cultivate an ethnographic sensibility in his own work and the possibilities of combining interpretivism and positivism, drawing on a recent article published in International Studies Review titled “Religious Fieldwork for International Relations Scholars".

The talk is free and open to the public, but please register here.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Samantha Majic (John Jay College and the CUNY Graduate Center) will discuss her trials and tribulations doing research on the internet, as well as her ongoing work on fitness influencers.

The talk is open to the public, but registration is required. Please register by clicking here.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Sophie Harman (Queen Mary University of London) will discuss how she turned her research into an award-winning short film called Pili, telling the stories behind her research on global health.

The talk is open to the public, but registration is required. Please register by clicking here.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Marnie Howlett (Oxford) will discuss online interviewing, based on her own experience and fieldwork. Her publications on methods include “Looking at the ‘Field’ Through a Zoom Lens” (2022) and "When 'Home' Becomes the 'Field': Ethical Considerations in Digital and Remote Fieldwork” (2022).

The Zoom event is free and open to the public, but please register in advance here.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Audrey Alejandro (LSE) will discuss reflexivity in practice. Professor Alejandro studies discourse and knowledge, the role they play in society and world politics, how we can apprehend their effects, and what it takes to produce discourses and knowledge helping us to create a world consistent with our values. She has published extensively on reflexivity. See, for example, “How to Pay Attention to the Words we Use” (2022) and “Reflexivity for Qualitative Research Quality and the Quality of Qualitative Research” (2024).

This talk will take place from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM (Eastern Time), via Zoom.

The talk is open to the public, but registration is required. Please register by clicking here.

Join the Rutgers Digital Ethnography Working Group for our upcoming Book Talk with Jordan Kraemer, author of "Mobile City"!

Friday, October 24, 2025

1-2:30 pm EST

Online

Please join the Rutgers Digital Ethnography Working Group (DEWG) for our upcoming Book Talk with Dr. Jordan Kraemer, author of Mobile City: Emerging Media, Space, and Sociality in Contemporary Berlin!

The conversation is moderated by Dr. Jeff Lane, co-director of the Rutgers Digital Ethnography Working Group, and Grant Lattanzi, PhD student in the Rutgers Department of Journalism and Media Studies!

All members of the Group are invited to attend the annual Interpretive Methodologies & Methods Business Meeting at APSA’s 2025 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC. Recipients of the Group’s awards will be announced.

Thursday Sep 11, 2025

19:30 to 21:00 PDT

Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section Reception, with recognition of Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwarz-Shea’s contributions to the discipline and to the Method’s Cafe

Thursday Sep 11, 2025

16:00 to 17:30 PDT

Methods Café (20^th Anniversary Celebration)

Chaired by Be Stone (Rhodes College), Robin Turner (Butler University), and Biko Koenig (Franklin and Marshall College).

Thursday Sep 11, 2025

14:00 to 15:30 PDT

Author Meets Critics: "What Does the American Presidency Mean?"

Presenters: Richard Holzman (Bryant University), Anne Norton (University of Pennsylvania), Diane Rubenstein, Jeffrey Tulis (University of Texas at Austin) and David Zarefsky (Northwestern University); chaired by Charles Zug (University of Missouri)

Thursday Sep 11, 2025

12:00 to 13:00 PDT

Panel: “Interpretive Lenses on Political Meaning-Making and Mobilization”

Presenters: Biko Koenig (Franklin and Marshall College), Santos Javier Rivera-Cardona (Rutgers University), Lauren Marie Baker (University of Nebraska), Be Stone (Rhodes College) and Juan Wang (McGill University); Chaired by Tania Islas Weinstein (McGill University), and Samuel Ritholtz (University of Oxford) as discussant.

Thursday Sep 11, 2025

08:00 to 09:30 PDT

Panel: “Caring for the Other: Rethinking Political Science in Uncertain Times”

Presenters: Ronay Bakan (Johns Hopkins University), Maria Méndez Gutiérrez (University of Toronto); Lahoma Thomas (Toronto Metropolitan University); Sara Parkinson (Johns Hopkins University) and Mneesha Gellman (Emerson College); Chaired by Helen Kinsella (University of Minnesota), with Nadia Brown (Georgetown University) discussing.

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

13:30 to 17:30 PDT

Short Course: Interpretive Process Analytics (QMMR) Jeffrey T. Checkel, EUI

The Methods Café is an innovation of Professors Dvora Yanow and Peri Schwartz-Shea, intending to bring together people with methods questions in an informal setting with light refreshments. In this 20th year of the Methods Café, and after long hiatus, we are reconvening the Methods Café at the International Political Science Association in Seoul.

Starting a project? Thinking about methods design? Questions about managing fieldwork? Ethics questions? Need guidance to respond to journals? Strategies to convince your committee? The Methods Café is for you!

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Mike Rowe (University of Liverpool) will discuss the value the value of interpretive analysis for the study of street-level bureaucrats—from police officers, to social workers, and teachers, drawing from his recently published book, Researching Street-level Bureaucracy, recently published with the Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods. This talk is part of a series of events leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Methods Café.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

James M. Curry (University of Utah) will speak about the value and importance of interpretive research to understand the American legislative branch, drawing from his book, Understanding American Legislatures: The Need for Interpretive-Qualitative Research, which is forthcoming with the Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods. This talk is part of a series of events leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Methods Café.

This event is free and open to the public but registration is required. Click here to register.

Interpretivists do Interpretive Methods Series

Richard Holtzman (Bryant University) will speak about the need for an interpretive lens in the study of the American Presidency, drawing from his book What Does the American Presidency Mean?, which is forthcoming with the Routledge Series on Interpretive Methods. This talk is part of a series of events leading up to the 25th anniversary of the Methods Café.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register.

APSA’s Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER) is a four-day, residential institute that provides political scientists with training to conduct ethical and rigorous civically engaged research. Up to 20 scholars will be selected as ICER Fellows and invited to attend the 2025 Summer Institute. ICER Fellows will network with other like-minded political scientists, and together, learn best practices for conducting academically robust, mutually beneficial scholarship in collaboration with communities, organizations, and agencies outside of academia.

To apply, please complete this form. The deadline is April 20, 2025.