Paul ten Have’s son Frans has shared with 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