Methodological challenges of intercultural research Cover Image

Módszertani kihívások interkulturális vizsgálatokban
Methodological challenges of intercultural research

Multiply entangled figurations of established and outsiders in the West Bank

Author(s): Gabriele Rosenthal
Contributor(s): Tímea Baumann (Translator)
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: MTA TK Szociológiai Intézet
Keywords: social-constructive biographical research; ethnographic field work; figurational sociology; intercultural studies; Christians and Muslims in Palestine

Summary/Abstract: In the paper at hand, the author discusses empirical data gathered during research in the Palestinian Territories (West Bank). She illustrates ‒ by means of two examples from her field work ‒ that both everyday conversations and biographical interviews in this region are significantly determined by the Middle East conflict and the relevant multiply entangled figurations between Palestinians, Jewish Israelis, and representatives of the so-called Western world. This causes interviewees to present themselves as representatives of a Palestinian we-group free of conflicts, while family and biographical self-presentations focus on the theme “Our suffering under Israeli occupation.” This paper particularly highlights the structuring of the conversations caused by the interviewers’ religious, national, and status-based (professional or socio-economic) belongings and the related methodological challenges for this research.

  • Issue Year: 4/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 21-41
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Hungarian