학술논문
1 Finishing fieldwork in less than perfect circumstances: Lessons learned in ‘labyrinth’ exiting
Document Type
Book
Author
Source
Leaving the field: Methodological insights from ethnographic exits. :33-44
Subject
Language
Abstract
This chapter outlines the tales of two researchers who finished their fieldwork in less than perfect circumstances. The projects reported on here do not align with more typical accounts of exiting the field. Indeed, they might best be described as having culminated in explosive end points, where a number of ethical incidents erupted and relative chaos and confusion ensued. The first tale focuses on Alexandra’s experiences during her last day of fieldwork, when she was packing her bag to leave the field and a participant disclosed the bullying they were experiencing as a result of participating in the research. The second tale examines Sarah’s forced departure from the field (owing to difficult personal circumstances) at a time when her participants had started to develop a trusting relationship with her and had just started to open up about their own relationships with the subject of the research (relational violence). As well as outlining the difficulties faced by these researchers, and thus troubling notions of smooth or seamless exits, the chapter examines the strategies utilised by these researchers as they attempted to navigate this tricky terrain. As such, the chapter considers the methods lessons learnt in these projects, particularly when dealing with uncertainty and the unexpected as part of ethnographic fieldwork.
This book is concerned with a central, yet overlooked, aspect of ethnographic fieldwork: leaving the field. Despite some useful treatments being available, this collection provides a current and critical sustained engagement with the practices, problems and possibilities of leaving the field. The collection generates methodological insights through the examination of a range of exits from a variety of contexts. The tales from leaving the field cover planned ‘good’ exits; abrupt and unwelcome exits where the researcher is forced to leave the field or, indeed, the field leaves them; ‘bad’ exits with a lingering legacy; partial exits and returns; and cases where the research, the researcher and the field are entangled to the extent where leaving becomes impossible. The chapters – written by an international and interdisciplinary group of fieldworkers, at different stages of their careers – are not intended to reduce leaving the field to a series of recommendations or programmatic steps but, instead, report from ethnographic exits in order to critically investigate, trouble and even subvert established notions of field relations, exit strategies and even ‘the field’ itself.
This book is concerned with a central, yet overlooked, aspect of ethnographic fieldwork: leaving the field. Despite some useful treatments being available, this collection provides a current and critical sustained engagement with the practices, problems and possibilities of leaving the field. The collection generates methodological insights through the examination of a range of exits from a variety of contexts. The tales from leaving the field cover planned ‘good’ exits; abrupt and unwelcome exits where the researcher is forced to leave the field or, indeed, the field leaves them; ‘bad’ exits with a lingering legacy; partial exits and returns; and cases where the research, the researcher and the field are entangled to the extent where leaving becomes impossible. The chapters – written by an international and interdisciplinary group of fieldworkers, at different stages of their careers – are not intended to reduce leaving the field to a series of recommendations or programmatic steps but, instead, report from ethnographic exits in order to critically investigate, trouble and even subvert established notions of field relations, exit strategies and even ‘the field’ itself.