Paper short abstract

This paper argues that structured rest and self-care are not interruptions but essential methods in Patchwork Ethnography. Drawing on fieldwork in northeastern India during COVID-19 and menstruation, I demonstrate how centring the researcher’s embodied needs redefines ethnographic rigour.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores how the methodological framework of Patchwork Ethnography transforms periods of necessary rest and self-care from perceived interruptions into a core, generative component of fieldwork. I draw from my research in rural riverine northeastern India, which was fundamentally shaped by the intersecting challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the physical demands of menstruation. Confronting the impossibility of conventional, uninterrupted fieldwork, I intentionally structured my research around cyclical returns ‘home’ for recovery and care.

During these breaks, practices such as peer debriefing, reflective journaling, and embroidery became vital methodological tools. Far from being idle time, these activities constituted essential emotional and analytical labour-processing experiences, centring my embodied reality, and preparing for subsequent engagement. This approach allowed me to challenge the enduring myth of the detached, ever-present ethnographer and to critically engage with what constitutes “rigor.”

By framing rest as a deliberate method, I argue that Patchwork Ethnography formally recognises the researcher’s body and well-being as central to knowledge production. It treats ethnography as inseparable from emotional labour and legitimises the frequent moving between field and home. Ultimately, this practice demystifies heroic fieldwork models and proposes a more sustainable, inclusive, and ethically attuned ethnographic practice - one that makes rigorous research possible for a more diverse academic community by acknowledging our shared, human complexities.