Paul ten Have 1937-2022
A brief note on behalf of The EMCA wiki Admins group
As well being a highly respected and influential scholar of EM/CA, Paul ten Have was the originator of the web-based EM/CA bibliography that forms the basis of this wiki.
When Paul first asked for help with his web-based bibliography back in 2014, a small group of volunteers joined him working to keep the bibliography up to date, and to transfer the original PDF version into a native digital bibliography format. When we initially suggested using a wiki, Paul was uncomfortable with the idea that the bibliography would be editable by all because he thought this might create problems for his carefully curated joint EM and CA bibliography (he was always wary of attempts to separate the two rhetorically or intellectually). Paul wanted to ensure that the bibliography encompassed the full richness of EM/CA's joint intellectual heritage without diluting it - a difficult task! But with his guidance, and with the understanding and thoughtful participation of many within the EM/CA community, the bibliography tripled in size and began accepting contributions from anyone who self-described their work as EM/CA. I was always happy to know that Paul felt gratified by the collegial and thoughtful way that colleagues from across the spectrum of EM/CA contributory field engaged with his ambitious and generous project.
We hope that the EM/CA wiki will continue to be a tribute to Paul's continued benevolent influence on the field of EM/CA, and that new members of the EMCA wiki Admins group (all are welcome to join!) will extend his inclusive and careful maintenance of the field's rich intellectual joint EM and CA traditions.
In that spirit of openness, we would also like to invite anyone who knew Paul in any way (personally, or as a reader of his scholarship), to contribute to this obituary wiki page. Please email your obituary to admins@emcawiki.net and/or join The EMCA wiki Admins group so you can edit the wiki page directly and contribute directly to Paul's ongoing project!
SaulAlbert (talk) on behalf of the The EMCA wiki Admins
A tribute from Harrie Mazeland
Paul ten Have’s son Frans has shared the sad news of Paul’s passing. Paul ten Have died on Tuesday May 10, 2022 in a nursing home in Alkmaar (The Netherlands), two years after he lost his life partner Immelien Kramer.
In 2002, Paul ten Have retired as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Antropology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam. At that time, he was also a staff member of the Dutch Graduate School in Science & Technology Studies: Science, Technology and Modern Culture.
From 1992 on, and from 1996 on the world-wide web, Paul’s ETHNO/CA-NEWS has been an important resource for publications and activities in conversation analysis and ethnomethodology (www.paultenhave.nl). Since 2014, this work is continued on the EM/CA wiki site (emcawiki.net). In a biographical note on the pages of Ethno/CA-News, Paul described his own research interests as follows:
“My research interests can be indicated by the concepts of ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, medical interaction, technology and research practices. I have a long-standing interest in qualitative research methods, as evident in most of my teaching, a number of publications, and some of my research. My general orientation has been shaped mostly by ethnomethodology, which I most often apply in the form of Conversation Analysis. Since the late 1970's, I have done research on doctor-patient interaction in the context of the general practice consultation, i.e. in general medicine. (...) For the last 15 years or so, I have also developed an interest in the study of local practices involving various kinds of technology, such as ICT as in word processing or web page design.”
Paul ten Have was a member of the small group of first generation talk-in-interaction scholars in the Netherlands around the end of the seventies (together with Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra, Martha Komter, Dorothea Franck, Marca Schasfoort and Dick Springorum). In 1979, this group had several meetings with Emanuel Schegloff during his stay in the Netherlands, and from 1983 on, there were regular data sessions with Gail Jefferson. In 1991 Paul organized one of the first international conferences on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis in Amsterdam (together with Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra and Harrie Mazeland).
Paul was influential as a teacher of ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and qualitative methodology. His handbooks Doing Conversation Analysis (1999, second edition 2007) and Understanding Qualitative Research and Ethnomethodology (2004) offer accessible introductions. They reached a broad readership and are often quoted. Not only was the connection between conversation analysis and ethnomethodology a serious concern for Paul, he was also open to research in related and overlapping paradigms such as interactional linguistics, discursive psychology, membership categorization analysis, or related interaction studies such as Goffman and micro-ethnography.
Some publications
- Have, Paul ten (1989) 'The consultation as a genre'. In: B. Torode, ed. Text and Talk as Social Practice. Dordrecht / Providence, R.I.: Foris Publications: 115- 35
- Have, Paul ten (1991) 'Talk and institution: a reconsideration of the 'asymmetry' of doctor-patient interaction'. In: D. Boden, D.H. Zimmerman, eds. Talk and social structure: studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press: 138- 63
- Have, Paul ten; George Psathas, eds. (1995) Situated order: Studies in the social organization of talk and embodied activities. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America
- Have, Paul ten (1999) Doing conversation analysis: a practical guide. London etc: Sage
- Have, Paul ten (2004) Understanding qualitative research and ethnomethodology. London etc.: Sage
- Have, Paul ten (2005) 'The Notion of Member is the Heart of the Matter: On the Role of Membership Knowledge in Ethnomethodological Inquiry', Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 30: 28-53
- Have, Paul ten (2013) ‘Identifying birds by their song’. In: Peter Tolmie, Mark Rouncefield, eds. Ethnomethodology at Play. Farnham, Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate
Harrie Mazeland, May 10, 2022
