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Paper short abstract:

I draw on 12-months fieldwork with migrant advice groups to show the benefits of participatory method post-data-collection. Thinking about participatory methods helped to overcome “language barriers” with participants but also revealed complexities in that term that were key for analysis.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on a 12-month ethnography of migrant advice groups in the UK, this paper explores the benefits of participatory methods post-data-collection. Specifically, I recount the difficulties of overcoming the “language barrier” between participants, advisors, and myself when trying to include them in participatory methods. Critical engagement with what it means to collaborate with participants in ethnography was, as expected, beneficial in overcoming this barrier and including participants in my methodology. However, it also led to the analytical revelation that the “language barrier” as conceived by advisors, was more simplistic than I first thought.

Too greater focus on participants’ linguistic identities in the pursuit of inclusion, for example, could just as easily reinforce token representations. When participants were defined near-exclusively as other-than-English speakers, advice groups ignore a) the collaborative and truncated nature of participants' communication abilities; and b) other linguistic barriers to help (e.g., misinformation, technical language, affective language). It was only by engaging with ideas of participatory methods that these key analytical themes were revealed.

By recounting these experiences, I hope to advocate for greater engagement with participatory methods for developing ethnographic research beyond the point of data collection.