ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RESEARCHER AND THE RESEARCHED: POSITIONALITY AND THE ETHNOGRAPHIC METHOD
ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RESEARCHER AND THE RESEARCHED: POSITIONALITY AND THE ETHNOGRAPHIC METHOD

Summary/Abstract: The present essay reviews several of the issues related to the relationship between researcher and researched for the practitioners of the ethnographic method. My main argument underlines the reflexive, situated dimension of the field interaction and stresses the need of a continual assessment of the rapport processes, in order to deploy the adequate strategies that would allow the researcher to maintain the balance between 'doing closeness’ and ‘doing distance.’ I rejected the determinism implied by ‘outsider/insider’ dichotomy, as well as the alleged insuperable influence of factors such as gender, ethnicity or class. On the contrary, I argue in favor of a constructed, bi-univocal relationship between ethnographer and hosts, the deepness of which is to be negotiated according to the research’s objective and the field circumstances.

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