Paper Short Abstract:

The embodied dimensions of conducting ethnographic research remain largely absent from discussion about researchers‘ positionalities. I argue that the lack of attention for ethnographers‘ bodies in the field serves to shroud and maintain power structures of anthropological knowledge production by hindering more nuanced discussions about who can(not) do fieldwork and how.

Paper Abstract:

Abandoning the idea of ethnographers as „objective“ or „impartial“ observers was a significant step in challenging hegemonic colonial modes of knowledge production in anthropology and beyond. Since then, acknowledging and writing about one‘s own positionalities in relation to one‘s respective field site has become a common practices in anthropology. Yet, even decades after the so-called reflexive turn, the material (and) embodied dimensions of positioning oneself and moving within a particular field of ethnographic research remain largely absent from these discussions. More than a simple omission, I argue that the lack of attention for ethnographers‘ bodies in the field serves to shroud and maintain power structures of anthropological knowledge production by hindering more nuanced discussions about who can(not) do fieldwork and how.

To illustrate the necessity of paying attention to the bodily dimensions of fieldwork, I will draw on interrelated examples from recent fieldwork I conducted with truck drivers and construction workers in Germany: As a female researcher in a predominately male field, my gendered body proved to be an obvious, constant and inescapable source of struggles in the field. Furthermore, embodied im/possibilties of negotiating class, ethnicity and sexual orientation also proved to be a prerequisite for access to the field, begging the question which bodies are „required“ for certain kinds of fieldwork. The bodily effects of remaining highly mobile for an extended period of time lastly highlighted questions of physical and mental health of ethnographers, and ultimately the need for a broader discussion about access and inclusion in ethnographic fieldwork.