Standing out and blending in : contact-based research, ethics, and positionality

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Authors

Holmes, Carolyn E.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Abstract

This article explores the ethical difficulties that arise because of the interaction between fieldwork practitioners and their sites, in terms of the positionality of the researcher. What are the ethics of blending in or of standing out? This question stems from my experience of 12 months of fieldwork in South Africa in two distinct locales and among two different populations, one in which I could “pass” and another in which I was marked as various degrees of “outsider.” Drawing on this fieldwork, as well as an overview of the literature in political science on positionality, I argue that our discipline—because of the way it shapes interactions and research outcomes—must take positionality seriously in ethical training and practice.

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Keywords

Positionality, Researcher, Ethical training and practice, Fieldwork

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Holmes, C. E. (2021) “Standing Out and Blending In: Contact-Based Research, Ethics, and Positionality,” PS: Political Science & Politics. Cambridge University Press, 54(3), pp. 443–447. doi: 10.1017/S1049096520002024.