Paper short abstract:

This article explores the ethical, methodological, and emotional challenges I faced as a Polish female, migrant researcher studying far-right movements, where I strategically employed personal sex appeal as methodological tool, while interviewing male Polish migrant far-right activists in the UK.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the ethical, methodological and emotional challenges I encountered as a Polish female, migrant researcher studying far-right movements, interviewing predominantly male Polish migrant activists involved in far-right politics in the UK. The ethnographic experience underscores the complicated intersections of affinity, antipathy, and empathy, as well as the emotional toll on ethnographer’s wellbeing. Methodological reflections address how the fieldwork presented challenges that went beyond traditional ethical guidelines, demanding creative and reflexive approaches. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, participant observations among various far-right milieus and dozens of interviews, it explores three central questions: (1) How can researchers cultivate empathy or maintain professional positive regard for far-right activists without compromising their ethical stance? (2) What ethical and methodological implications arise when a woman researcher utilises personal sex appeal as a strategy in the field? (3) In what ways can hope be found and resilience maintained while conducting research within the environment shaped by racism, toxic masculinity, hate and violence. The findings build on ethnographies of the far-right such as Kathleen Blee or Hilary Pilkington and aim to broaden methodological perspectives in extremism research by inserting a feminist perspective such as Heidi Kaspara & Sara Landolt and a third wave of feminism to deepen our understanding of how identities are constructed and performed in transnational, multicultural settings emphasising the value but also limitations for reflexive methodologies that adapt to the dynamic and ethically fraught terrain of far-right studies, promoting researcher resilience and methodological innovation.