Longing to belong
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
ISSN: 1746-5648
Article publication date: 18 November 2013
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine distinctions between embeddedness and belonging in ethnographic fieldwork to make sense of a researcher's identity position in the field.
Design/methodology/approach
A confessional ethnographic narrative was retrospectively crafted from field notes from a 12-month fieldwork period. This narrative is presented and critically discussed to problematize the author's remembered sense of place and temporality in the field.
Findings
Regardless of whether a researcher “longs to belong” in the field, the paper finds that the research and the researcher belongs to the field. The temporality of an ethnographer's being in the field causes its inhabitants, the research participants to assign him/her a distinct and hybrid identity position.
Research limitations/implications
It is recognized that the research presented is bound by nostalgia. However, such reflexive intersubjectivity must be accounted for in ethnography. The identity position of a researcher influences the research process and outcomes. And that identity is not at the discretion of the researcher.
Originality/value
Adopting the trope of habitus and postcolonial principles, this research illustrates the criticality of reflexive intersubjectivity in ethnography to positioning the researcher as “Other,” not the research participants. For organizational ethnographers, and qualitative researchers more widely, to recognize this ethical consideration has consequences for how fieldwork is practiced and reported.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's Engineering Doctorate Programme originally funded the fieldwork discussed here. Without their initial support his time in the field would not have occurred. Special thanks must also go to Malcolm, Russ, Clive, Alan, Ian, Steve and Chris, with whom he extended his apprenticeship. The author would finally like to thank the participants of the 2012 Qualitative Research in Management and Organization Conference for their sincere engagement with his presentation of an early draft; Barry Judd and Michela Betta for their advice and support on subsequent drafts of this paper; and the reviewers of this paper for their insightful and critical comments that led to what he hopes is a practical paper.
Citation
Butcher, T. (2013), "Longing to belong", Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 242-257. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-05-2012-1065
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited