Paper short abstract:

In this paper I discuss several dead ends I encountered throughout ethnographic fieldwork with Eritrean migrants in Melbourne. I review conceptual and methodological limitations to my work that these ends reflect, and the transformations and opportunities for learning that followed.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I discuss several dead ends I encountered throughout ethnographic fieldwork for my doctoral research with Eritrean migrants in Melbourne. I review conceptual and methodological limitations to my work that these ends reflect, and the transformations and opportunities for learning that followed.

I first consider the 'end' of a fieldsite - the closure of an Eritrean café that served as a central meeting place for migrants and a key site for the research. While the café's closure initially felt like a tremendous loss - both research-wise and personally - it also provoked new conversations, questions, and promising directions for further inquiry. More than that, it triggered questions on the temporal and spatial boundaries of ethnography in my work and about opportunities for research relationships to outgrow designated research spaces.

I then discuss how linguistic challenges I faced pushed me to rethink my approach to participant observation, and to heavily rely on regular, ongoing conversations with participants in English. I think through the implications of these methodological shifts for the research and for relationships with key participants.

Finally, I reflect more broadly on foundational lessons that seemingly terminal setbacks to fieldwork may teach ethnographers, and on hopes they may hold for future work.