The article presents the possibilities of employing the ethnographic method in the research of international relations. It outlines the characteristics and status of the ethnographic method within cultural anthropology itself as well as selected research areas and subjects analysed by researchers of international relations using this method. It points out the potential traps and challenges facing researchers of international relations wishing to use the ethnographic method in the context of the conceptual framework created by Ludwik Fleck, namely thought styles and thought collectives. It raises the issue of disciplinary identity of international relations and confronts it with the employed methods of international relations studies.