Abstract
This note reflects on the methodological challenges I faced as an ethnographer navigating organizational ignorance and more specifically organizational secrecy, during my dissertation fieldwork on the French yellow vest movement. In the course of this ethnographic study, I got involved with highly committed actors willing to engage in radical actions and high-risk activism (McAdam, 1986), ranging from civil disobedience and illicit occupations to collective action based on black bloc tactics (Dupuis-Déri, 2003; Juris, 2005). These activities usually required some degree of clandestinity and organizing practices kept under the radar; sub-groups within the movement often worked hard at keeping certain things invisible and untraceable. As a consequence, the movement’s organizational attempts frequently supposed relative ignorance amongst members and concealment of knowledge regarding external actors.