Towards a carnal anthropology: reflections of an ‘imperfect’ anthropologist

Abstract

This article offers an exploration into the ways in which the researcher's body enters into a permanent dialogue with the practices and the discourses of the research participants, and is transformed into an essential investigative tool. Based on my ethnographic experience amongst a group of Brazilian travesti sex workers, I will show how my own 'imperfect' body, according to the travesti canons of feminine aesthetics, became an element that awarded me visibility and served as a bridge to interaction with them. At the same time, I was accidentally interpreted by the group as the 'photographer'. From this corporeal interaction, and via the medium of the camera, I was able to legitimize my position amongst travestis and open a new field of theoretical enquiry, developing, therefore, Wacquant's proposal (2004) on a 'corporeal sociology' in the understanding of the active role that the body takes in the research process.

Between marginality and privilege: gaining access and navigating the field in multiethnic settings

“…While we agree with this performance-based definition, it misses an important component of how these characterizations work: approachability and credibility are also categories that are placed on the bodies of researchers by participants. These categories are racialized, gendered, and classed (Vartabedian, 2015; Warren and Hackney, 2000). By conceptualizing credibility and approachability as both performed behaviors and perceived characteristics, we are able to incorporate the researcher’s positionality, the standpoint of the researched, and the power-laden particularities of the interaction (for example, local structures of domination) in our data analyses and fieldwork reflections.…”

The hands have it: tactile participation and maximum grip in the aviation sector

“…Reflexivity is usually understood as ‘the process of a continual internal dialogue and critical self-evaluation of researcher’s positionality as well as active acknowledgement and explicit recognition that this position may affect the research process and outcome’ (Berger, 2015: 220). The body is important for reflexivity because it is the embodied positionality of the researcher that will affect the research process and outcome and shape the way in which the research is conducted (Vartabedian, 2015; Wacquant, 2005; Warren, 2000). Reflexivity can be controlled via the body.…”

“…Instead of thinking through how to use the equipment, there were moments when I felt equipment was available to me – ‘to hand’ – and that I was gaining insightful experiences of the Pilot’s world. By holding equipment with my hands and putting my body on the front line, I was immersing myself into the world of the Pilot by attempting to get on the inside (Vartabedian, 2015). When equipment is available for use in this way, Heidegger (2003: 102) calls it ‘ready-to-hand’, explaining how entities become appropriate in a given situation and thus fit for purpose.…”