Flanking Gestures: Gender and Emotion in Fieldwork

Benz, Terressa A.

doi:10.5153/sro.3326

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Social position influences interview and field dynamics. The significance of positionality and reflexivity is well documented (Benz 2014; Brown-Saracino 2014; May 2014; Meadow 2013; Reyes 2020; Robertson 2002; Woodward 2008). Recognizing that I occupied a particular identity as a black man, a graduate student, and an outsider, I developed a toolkit (Reyes 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“‘No Tough Guys Here?’: Hybrid Masculinity in a Boxing Gym”

Rabii

2021

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, I explore manifest and latent discourses about masculinity in a predominantly white, middle class boxing gym. In this gym, the owner and coaches promote a discourse that emphasizes love, bridgework, and sparring with care. This discourse is part of the gym’s white-collar boxing culture. A key part of this discourse is distancing themselves from other gyms, claiming they promote a violent masculinity. While on the surface the gym criticizes certain ideals and practices associated with American hegemonic masculinity, it still reproduces discourses, norms, and practices associated with it. Employees use a latent discourse that constructs a hybrid masculinity. I argue that employees and members construct a hybrid masculinity by perpetuating ideals and practices associated with American hegemonic masculinity.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“‘No Tough Guys Here?’: Hybrid Masculinity in a Boxing Gym”

Rabii

2021

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, researchers have adopted a number of strategies to address issues of positionality in the field (Barber, 2016; Benz, 2014; Duck, 2015; Eason, 2017; Flores, 2016; May, 2014; Reyes, 2020). In the 1990s and 2000s, researchers began extensively documenting their strategies in methodological sections of their publications (Benz, 2014; Brown-Saracino, 2014; DeLuca and Maddox, 2016; Giroir, 2014; Innes, 2009; May, 2014; Meadow, 2013; Reyes, 2020; Rhodes, 1994; Rios, 2015, 2017; Robertson, 2002; Shaw et al, 2020; Woodward, 2008; Young Jr, 2004). For example, Contreras (2013) and Rios (2011) grapple with their own identities and how growing up in the communities they studied influenced their respective projects.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on self-presentation and self-monitoring demonstrates that individuals will alter their self-presentation according to the definition of the situation (Goffman, 1959; Kilduff and Krackhardt, 2008). These issues of presentation of self, identity, positionality, and insider/outsider status are central to qualitative research (Barber, 2016; Benz, 2014; Duck, 2015; Eason, 2017; Flores, 2016; May, 2014; Reyes, 2020). When researchers of color interview white respondents, it is possible that whites will present a non-racist self.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

One of the Good Ones: Rhetorical Maneuvers of Whiteness

Rabii

2021

Critical Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drawing on the literature on white habitus, colorblindness, diversity ideology, and happy talk, I argue that rhetorical maneuvers are key aspects of white habitus that allow whites to construct a non-racist self by drawing on colorblind discourses. To explore how white habitus influences interview dynamics when the respondent and interviewer are of a different race, I conducted 48 interviews with whites from rural and urban areas of the Greater Buffalo Area. Specifically, I examine the relationship between white habitus, a non-racist presentation of self, and rhetorical maneuvers that whites deploy when talking about race and immigration. I also introduce two new frames of colorblindness: differentiation and civility. The civility frame conflates friendliness and civility with anti-racism and is used as evidence that everything is fine. The differentiation frame attempts to draw distinctions between themselves (“non-racist white people”) and other whites (“bad apples”).

show abstract

“… 5. For more on the strategic use of researcher statuses, see Terressa A. Benz (2014) and Julie Mazzei and Erin E. O’Brien (2009). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 8. Benny was the nickname I used during my research (for more on using a nickname in fieldwork see Benz, 2014). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Mascots and Poverty Fetishism

Benz

2015

Sociological Perspectives

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing a transformation from concentrated disadvantage to vibrant city center. Using ethnographic research conducted in the gentrifying Historic Core of Los Angeles, I find that the presence of some original residents is encouraged as they help create the gritty and risky atmosphere valued by the new urbanites moving to the area who equate poverty with authenticity in a form of poverty fetishism. I focus here on a subsection of the low-income downtown population, who I call "urban mascots," whose value lies in their ability to embody stereotypical attributes of poverty. I create a typology of urban mascots based on the type of interactions they are willing to have with those seeking experiences with urban poverty. In the end, I argue that urban mascots provide the new gentrifying residents with a cast of nonthreatening and charismatic characters who represent for them a consumable authentic urban experience.

show abstract

Flanking Gestures: Gender and Emotion in Fieldwork

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

“‘No Tough Guys Here?’: Hybrid Masculinity in a Boxing Gym”

“‘No Tough Guys Here?’: Hybrid Masculinity in a Boxing Gym”

One of the Good Ones: Rhetorical Maneuvers of Whiteness

Urban Mascots and Poverty Fetishism

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About