The politics of identity in organizational ethnographic research: Ethnicity and tropicalist intrusions

Abstract

The article addresses aspects of the politics of identity that became manifest in the researcher–researched relationships in the context of an organizational ethnographic field study at a UK-based printing business. As the fieldwork commenced, it quickly became apparent that the researcher’s Brazilian nationality and Latin American ethnic identity were being performed and responded to in certain specific and problematic ways. This study analyzes the dynamics of identity work and identity politics in ethnographic and other qualitative research. However, the specific contribution of this article is that it examines the questions that arise when the typical structures and patterns of research practice – which are themselves embedded in a spatialized politics of knowledge – are reversed. Historically, research in the social sciences (including management and organization studies) has been conducted by researchers from the center in relation to others in the non-center. Furthermore, in so doing, epistemologies, theories and methods developed in and for the center are deployed to examine and explain phenomena in those other places. This article addresses the question of what happens when the researcher is from the non-center and is conducting research on those from the center. This inversion is increasingly common and has significant implications not only for research practice and the politics of knowledge but also for international business relations more generally.

Benefits of Boredom: An ‘Interlopers’ Experience of Conducting Participant Observation on the Production Line

“…Essentially, I decided to embrace the role of novice student/worker who needed to be shown the way by my co‐workers. It can take time to find your role in the organisation and it might not be one that you are always comfortable to have (see, Alcadipani et al ., ). It is important to reflect on the role and the impact it had on how you were perceived and the subsequent impact on the research.…”

“…While quantitative approaches provide us with facts and measurable figures, it is qualitative research methods that enable us to understand the meaning behind those numbers. Although there are a few notable exceptions (see, Root and Wooten, ; Thomson and Hassenkamp, ; McCann et al ., ; Samnani and Singh, ; Smets et al ., ; Alcadipani et al ., ; Stokes et al ., ;), the use of P‐O in organisational research is rare in the field of HRM. As a result, when it came to conduct and analysing P‐O research, I felt ill equipped and unprepared for the challenges of doing so in the context of the organisation.…”

As Influências Raciais na Construção do Campo Etnográfico: Um estudo multissituado no Contexto Brasil-Canadá

“…Neste estudo, buscamos avançar nessa discussão realizada por Alcadipani, Westwood e Rosa (2015) ao colocarmos em discussão as proximidades e distanciamentos dessa construção dos pesquisadores e não os "nativos" nos estudos etnográficos como sendo o "outro" em seu próprio país e em um país considerado centro do mundo, a partir de uma perspectiva racial. Sendo assim, buscamos contribuir com a área de Estudos Organizacionais no Brasil ao discutirmos como a raça influencia o trabalho de campo etnográfico em uma perspectiva transnacional, por isso, reportamo-nos a uma etnografia multilocalizada e transnacional para evidenciar as nuances das manifestações das relações raciais na realização de uma pesquisa qualitativa.…”

“…É concreto que a etnografia esteja se estabelecendo como um importante método de pesquisa nos estudos organizacionais (ALCADIPANI; WESTWOOD; ROSA, 2015;FAN-TINEL;FISCHER, 2014;GHERARDI, 2012;CARRIERI;SARAIVA, 2007) e diferentes prismas analíticos estejam se estabelecendo para compreender distintas formas de incorporação da etnografia para a compreensão dos processos organizativos (OLIVEI-RA; CAVEDON, 2015;FIGUEIREDO, 2015;FLORES-PEREIRA;DAVEL;CAVEDON, 2008). Contudo, esse tipo de estudo ainda apresenta uma lacuna teórica e empírica de entendimento sobre como desconstruir o mito da neutralidade do pesquisador no desenvolvimento da etnografia, apresentando em relatos etnográficos como questões raciais influenciam o trabalho de campo (DEWALT; DEWALT, 2011;PINHO, 2008;GROSSI, 1992).…”

A Methodological Journey Through Ethnography

“…Here, I use the term ethnography broadly. I acknowledge the diverse positions and directions ethnographers and anthropologists have taken and the debates they are engaging (Abu-Lughod, 1990;Alcadipani et al, 2015;Gilmore & Kenny, 2015). However, I am reluctant to commit myself to a particular label such as feminist ethnography, reflexive ethnography and critical ethnography and so on, which I feel is a distraction to the deployment of this design flexibly, in telling the stories from the field.…”