Plotting belonging: interrogating insider and outsider status in faith research

Abstract

Fifteen years ago an outpouring of new academic material asserted the value of being an insider in religious research. Conventional assumptions that linked objectivity with outsider status were challenged. This valuable burst of scholarship worked hard to critique the kind of research that preceded it, where faith or identity was seen to compromise research values, and undermine integrity and rigour. This special edition interrogates the legacy of the shift towards practitioner-research with religious-spiritual-magical-secular communities, particularly, but not only, when research examines broader social, historical and political concerns as well as the processes of faith and belief. It examines some more experiential dynamics of research to consider how the insider/outsider debate plays out from the inside of the research process.

Religious positionalities and political science research in ‘the field’ and beyond: Insights from Vietnam, Lebanon and the UK

“…Instead, there is a dearth of such methodological considerations within political science publications and politics departments in general. 1 On the contrary, in our experience, there remains an ambivalence within politics departments similar to Aston et al’s observation of ‘an underlying anxiety that those who study religious groups may be covert religious activists unless they explicitly declare their allegiances’ (Aston et al, 2015: 7). One contribution of this article, then is to open up debates about the possibilities and tensions of religious positionalities surrounding politically sensitive or contentious research, both on the ‘field’ and within academia.…”

“…Having established myself with the Hmong Christians, my ambitious research agenda led me to seek a middle ground with a foot in both camps and gain the trust of non-Christians too. However, balancing this 'methodological tightrope' (Aston et al, 2015) soon proved untenable, as the next episode reveals.…”