Constructing Reflexive Fieldwork Relationships

Mahoney, Dan

doi:10.1177/1077800407300765

Cited by 23 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(5 reference statements)

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“…This has been achieved, in this paper, through an analysis of social construction dynamics (Iyer, 2009) and using history as “trail”, i.e. careful examination of the historical evolution of the phenomenon, collecting dredged historical data by reflecting on the features of the past, through the analysis of texts in contexts, examination of artifacts and archival materials to “illuminate the world of the lived experience from the point of view of those who live it” (Mahoney, 2007). From this epistemological position, “knowing” involves the subjective interpretation of meaning to create a context for deep and emotional understanding of the subjects' life‐world (Habermas, 1987).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurship among British Africans: moving forward by looking backward

Nwankwo

2013

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy

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PurposeThis paper aims to explore how the complex interrelationship between historical factors and socio‐economic contexts contributed in shaping the contemporary representation of African entrepreneurship in Britain. Using this prism, it highlights some of the critical developmental challenges and future prospects.Design/methodology/approachIn order to track the connection between historical/immigration experiences and conditions of entrepreneurial development among Africans in Britain, the paper follows in the tradition of socio‐historical method. It leans on syntheses drawn from a broader underpinning literature.FindingsThe way in which the historiography of African entrepreneurship is generally presented reveals hybrid and ambivalent positions; guiding as well as constraining the representation of entrepreneurial choices of contemporaneous British Africans. Historical antecedents have strong explanatory powers in the construction or reconstruction of entrepreneurial identities of British Africans.Practical implicationsAgainst the backcloth of the problems generally encountered in attempts to stimulate and support entrepreneurship in black and African communities in Britain, policy designers very often ignore the fact the solutions will have to be sought from within the paradigms that created the problems. The positioning of this paper is intended to begin to plug this gap.Originality/valueThe concept of discourse is critical to understanding entrepreneurial processes of British Africans and bears careful explanation to their entrepreneurial transitions. This angle of inquiry is novel, with possibilities for opening new sites of knowledge.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurship among British Africans: moving forward by looking backward

Nwankwo

2013

Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy

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“…Inhabiting the gray zone between detached assessment and committed immersion might prove untenable for some ethnographers (Jemielniak and Kostera, 2010, p. 338; Koning and Ooi, 2013, p. 26). Conversely, maintaining professional boundaries with hostile or unlikeable interlocutors can be challenging and make us self-conscious and break the relationship altogether (Mahoney, 2007). Research assistants might also have expected more from, or plainly misunderstood, the basis of collaboration (Parry, 2015, p. 112).…”

Section: A Closer Look At Failure Fieldwork and Ethnographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing “navigating failure in ethnography”: a forum about failure in ethnographic research

Verbuyst

Galazka

2023

JOE

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PurposeThe authors introduce a recurrent section for the Journal of Organizational Ethnography which scrutinizes the various manifestations and roles of failure in ethnographic research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors peruse a wide body of literature which tackles the role of failure in ethnographic research and draw on the experiences to argue for a more sustained and in-depth conversation on the topic.Findings“Failure” regularly occurs in ethnographic research, yet remains under-examined. Increased discussion on the topic will enrich debates on methodology and fieldwork in particular.Originality/valueWhile various scholars have commented on the role of “failure” in ethnographic research, an in-depth and sustained examination of the topic is lacking.

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“…Since this period, the role of gender in research encounters has received greater attention, particularly in edited collections (e.g. Delamont and Atkinson 2008;Ward 2016) and with respect to how female researchers, specifically, reflect on issues of stereotypical gender beliefs and establishing relationships, gaining/preserving access, and ensuring safety (Bell 1993;Belur 2010;Bucerius 2013;Brown 2001;Enguix 2014;Jewkes 2011;Holmgren 2011;Horn 1997;Lumsden 2009;Mazzei and O'Brien 2009;Oakley 2016;Poulton 2012;Sharp and Kremer 2006;Woodward 2008;Zubair et al 2012). In a study of female midwives, for instance, Rayment (2011) reflects that being a woman helped her to integrate so thoroughly that it regularly became difficult to maintain an 'outsider' gaze with which to analyse the crucial role of gender in her research.…”

Section: Gender In the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing Gender in a Hospital Setting: Reflections of a Male Researcher

Thomas

2017

Sociological Research Online

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Very little attention has been afforded to how male researchers actively position their gender in their studies, particularly in ethnographic research located within settings populated largely by women. In this article, I reflect on my own gender work during an ethnography of prenatal clinics and how this was articulated with other aspects of my researcher self. By reporting on the successes and failures of this performance, I argue that my gender constituted an essential element in the everyday negotiations between myself and female participants. In so doing, I suggest that reflexive commentaries of how researchers perform gender should not be viewed as a form of egotistic self-indulgence. Rather, they should be read as valuable statements for rendering the researcher visible and, here, for revealing how issues of doing gender play out during fieldwork. KeywordsEmotions, ethnography, fieldwork, gender, hospital, identity, male researcher, masculinity, qualitative methods, reflexivityIn this article, I reflect on my experiences as a male researcher carrying out an ethnography in a setting occupied largely by women (prenatal clinics). Critical reflections and detailed confessions are a fairly common trait of the ethnographic craft; researchers have been rendered visible as a presence affecting all aspects of research, including constructing its narrative (Scott et al. 2012). Such accounts contain a wealth of information about -among other things -gaining access, collecting data, relationships, and exiting the field. Some of these arguments address gender reflexivity, a topic which has received renewed interest in sociology (but has a longer history in anthropology) -particularly from female academics researching primarily 'male' sites. For example, Poulton (2012) discusses her experiences of researching the hyper-masculine subculture of football hooliganism within the UK. She criticises the 'gender blindness' of male researchers doing similar studies who fail to consider the positionings, practices, and performances of the gendered self (2012, para. 1.1). In her study, Poulton describes 2 feeling obligated to prove she had 'balls' (para 7.2) to negotiate difficult situations and emotions. In describing her gender as a 'useful tool' (para 4.9), Poulton suggests that researchers should consider their gender more critically and work harder to disclose the complexities and messiness of qualitative work over offering purely sanitised accounts of methodological processes and practices.Despite such incitements, very few male researchers have written about their own research experiences. Limited to 'bar-room confessionals' or amusing anecdotes, such accounts -according to Back (1993: 215) -point to a need for a 'more sensitive appreciation of the politics of research' and responding positively to feminist critiques of methodological practice. There may be reasons for this absence other than Poulton's charge of gender blindness. Do some men not see such reflections as a priority or as a determinant in attaining ac...

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Constructing Reflexive Fieldwork Relationships

Cited by 23 publications

References 7 publications

Entrepreneurship among British Africans: moving forward by looking backward

Entrepreneurship among British Africans: moving forward by looking backward

Introducing “navigating failure in ethnography”: a forum about failure in ethnographic research

Doing Gender in a Hospital Setting: Reflections of a Male Researcher

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