TY - JOUR
T1 - From fried egg to mashed potato and lentils
T2 - navigating positionalities in ethnographic research in a Global South context
AU - Rahman, Shajed
PY - 2023/2/28
Y1 - 2023/2/28
N2 - The current debates in the area of researchers' positionalities criticise the notion of the 'insider/outsider' dichotomy and favour the idea of a fluid inbetweener position. However, these narratives foreground researchers' perspectives and often ignore participants' agency in constructing a researcher's positionality in the field. In this paper, as an early career researcher, I analyse my journey with my own positionalities in ethnographic research in a rural community in Bangladesh. Adopting a Critical Realist ontological standpoint, I argue that positionalities are co-constructed by researcher and participant and are products of complex interactions between their agencies and the social structure. I illustrate how reflexivity, taking both my and the participants’ views into account, facilitated my movement towards a position where the participants expose their habitual behaviour (not hesitating to offer their day-to-day food - mash potato) rather than providing superficial information (as they do to a guest, for whom they will at least fry an egg- a special arrangement- for dinner).
AB - The current debates in the area of researchers' positionalities criticise the notion of the 'insider/outsider' dichotomy and favour the idea of a fluid inbetweener position. However, these narratives foreground researchers' perspectives and often ignore participants' agency in constructing a researcher's positionality in the field. In this paper, as an early career researcher, I analyse my journey with my own positionalities in ethnographic research in a rural community in Bangladesh. Adopting a Critical Realist ontological standpoint, I argue that positionalities are co-constructed by researcher and participant and are products of complex interactions between their agencies and the social structure. I illustrate how reflexivity, taking both my and the participants’ views into account, facilitated my movement towards a position where the participants expose their habitual behaviour (not hesitating to offer their day-to-day food - mash potato) rather than providing superficial information (as they do to a guest, for whom they will at least fry an egg- a special arrangement- for dinner).
KW - reflection, qualitative method
KW - ethnography
KW - positionalities
KW - insider
KW - outsider
UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/CWSE
U2 - 10.1080/1743727X.2023.2182876
DO - 10.1080/1743727X.2023.2182876
M3 - Article
SN - 1743-727X
JO - International Journal of Research and Method in Education
JF - International Journal of Research and Method in Education
ER -