Navigating the Field: Reflexivity and Positionality in Researching Transnational Families Across Serbia, Turkey, and Slovakia
Navigating the Field: Reflexivity and Positionality in Researching Transnational Families Across Serbia, Turkey, and Slovakia

Summary/Abstract: This paper emerges from an ongoing scholarly conversation among three researchers with backgrounds in demography, sociology, and anthropology, based in Serbia, Turkey, and Slovakia, who are engaged in transnational family (TNF) scholarship and share a concern for the more systematic consideration of positionality and reflexivity in this field. While existing transnational family scholarship, as a dynamic and evolving field, has generated substantial empirical findings, existing studies also highlight the inconsistent and often marginal integration of reflexivity and positionality in research on TNFs. The objective of the paper is to contribute to discussions on reflexivity and positionality in transnational family research by examining how these issues are negotiated across different empirical, methodological, and geographical settings, drawing on three case studies: mixed-method research with Serbian students abroad and international students in Serbia, autoethnographic research with mixed-nationality couples in Turkey, and ethnographic research with Ukrainian refugee families in Slovakia. The paper shows that reflexivity operates through distinct methodological mechanisms that depend on the methodological approach: from instrument design and team members’ positionalities in mixed-methods research, to the negotiation between analytical distance and personal experiences in autoethnography, to the continuous negotiation of boundaries between researcher and participants in ethnographical research encounters. The paper argues that positionality in transnational research is relational, emerging from relationships and interactions, and that it destabilises and transforms across different contexts. Finally, the paper shows that reflexivity in transnational family research extends beyond methodological transparency and also involves affective, relational, and ethical dimensions, particularly in research contexts characterised by vulnerability.

• Details
• Contents