Removing The Rose-Tinted Glasses. Fear, risk and being uncomfortable in ethnographic fieldwork

Pandeli, Jenna; Alcadipani, Rafael

Abstract

This chapter draws on the authors experiences of research in prison and the police force to stress the value in analysing the stories ethnographers do not tell: the stories of self that cast us as imperfect, emotional and flawed. We reflect on how doing ethnographic fieldwork, putting ourselves in precarious positions, impacts our sense of self and can result in unsavoury (both physical and psychological) outcomes that are seldom recognized. We begin by asking ‘How might ethnographic studies provoke fear?’ and we address this issue by drawing on three ways that we have experienced fear, risk and being uncomfortable in our fieldwork. We specifically discuss these experiences in the relationship building process; we then discuss rejection in the field; and, finally, we draw attention to our experiences following us beyond the field, even after we have left, impacting other facets of our lives. In doing this we accept the notion that fear, risk and being uncomfortable are an inevitable part of what we do, rather than working on the masculinized assumption that we can switch off personal concerns when in professional environments. We argue that this is important for three key reasons: (1) This can be vital for novice researchers and thus we need to work towards normalizing these discussions (2) Emotions such as fear are central to learning more generally –and in this case can provide us with new insights into the communities we study, (3) Discussion such as this will allow us to begin rethinking risk in the bureaucratic underbelly of ethnography, specifically concerning the ethical processes we need to follow in completing our fieldwork.

• Online Publication Date: Feb 17, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 15, 2023
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Chapter Number: 4
• ISBN: 9780367898670; 9780367898687
• Keywords: Ethnographic fieldwork; Ethnography; Organizational Ethnography
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10505428
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/Organizational-Ethnography-An-Experiential-and-Practical-Guide/Pandeli-Sutherland-Gaggiotti/p/book/9780367898687