Short Abstract

What happens when anthropologists move to the field with their families? And what does it mean to be moved—emotionally, socially or physically—by the field? This workshop makes visible the overlooked relations, infrastructures, affects and responsibilities shaping anthropological mobility.

Long Abstract

What moves us to conduct fieldwork with our partners and/or children, despite the anticipated hardships? Accompanied research often entails additional material costs, complex arrangements for family members, and heightened responsibilities toward those who accompany us or remain behind. At the same time, researchers must negotiate these responsibilities alongside the demands and expectations of fieldwork. What happens, then, when anthropologists move to the field with their families? And what does it mean to be moved—emotionally, socially or physically—by the field together?

We invite contributions that examine the affective, material, political, relational, and methodological movements that make accompanied research possible. Discussions will revolve around, but not be limited to, the following questions:

• What kinds of mobility are involved in or expected for accompanied research? Which aspects remain invisible?

• What are the “costs” (material, emotional, organisational, etc.) of these movements?

• What infrastructures are needed for accompanied research, and which material, social, or political conditions constrain it?

• What kinds of affects—excitement, joy, anxiety, guilt, responsibility—accompany scholars engaged in accompanied research? How are these affects experienced by their family members?

• How are family members who accompany researchers or stay behind moved by the field? What are their experiences of reorganisation of everyday life and adaptation?

• How does accompanied research reshape researchers’ positionality, their relationship to the field, methodological practices, and knowledge production?

By bringing together diverse experiences and perspectives, the workshop seeks to make visible the often-overlooked relations, infrastructures, affects, and responsibilities that make anthropological mobility possible.