Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer

Ethnographic research is characterised by in-person engagement with individuals and groups within a social setting, usually over an extended timeframe. These elements provide valuable insights which cannot be gained through other forms of research. In addition, such levels of involvement in “the fie...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	Sepeedeh Saleh
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	ethnography (methods) positionalities in research reflexivity researcher-participant relationship COVID-19 Sociology (General) HM401-1281
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f9f6659d499e445987a07f19774ad396
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:f9f6659d499e445987a07f19774ad396
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f9f6659d499e445987a07f19774ad3962021-12-02T10:23:35ZShifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer2297-777510.3389/fsoc.2021.776968https://doaj.org/article/f9f6659d499e445987a07f19774ad3962021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.776968/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2297-7775Ethnographic research is characterised by in-person engagement with individuals and groups within a social setting, usually over an extended timeframe. These elements provide valuable insights which cannot be gained through other forms of research. In addition, such levels of involvement in “the field” create complex, shifting researcher-participant relationships which themselves shape the course of the project and its findings. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many research projects, but impacts on ethnographic research, with its emphasis on physical presence in the field and interpersonal relationships, reveals much about these key elements of our praxis.I discuss how the pandemic influenced the progress of an ethnographic research project, based in Malawi, including consideration of how, as lead for the project, my clinical/“public health” positionalities interacted with relationships in the village and the arrival of COVID-19 in Malawi. This account reveals shifting intersubjectivities of researchers and participants as the pandemic brought changes in the nature of the engagement, from ethnographic explorations into the roles of smoke in everyday life, through fieldwork suspension, and contextualised COVID-19 response. These experiences demonstrate how a basis of reflexive ethnographic engagement with communities can underpin thoughtful responses to upcoming challenges, with implications for future “global health” work, both within and beyond the pandemic context.Sepeedeh SalehSepeedeh SalehFrontiers Media S.A.articleethnography (methods)positionalities in researchreflexivityresearcher-participant relationshipCOVID-19Sociology (General)HM401-1281ENFrontiers in Sociology, Vol 6 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	ethnography (methods) positionalities in research reflexivity researcher-participant relationship COVID-19 Sociology (General) HM401-1281
spellingShingle	ethnography (methods) positionalities in research reflexivity researcher-participant relationship COVID-19 Sociology (General) HM401-1281 Sepeedeh Saleh Sepeedeh Saleh Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer
description	Ethnographic research is characterised by in-person engagement with individuals and groups within a social setting, usually over an extended timeframe. These elements provide valuable insights which cannot be gained through other forms of research. In addition, such levels of involvement in “the field” create complex, shifting researcher-participant relationships which themselves shape the course of the project and its findings. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many research projects, but impacts on ethnographic research, with its emphasis on physical presence in the field and interpersonal relationships, reveals much about these key elements of our praxis.I discuss how the pandemic influenced the progress of an ethnographic research project, based in Malawi, including consideration of how, as lead for the project, my clinical/“public health” positionalities interacted with relationships in the village and the arrival of COVID-19 in Malawi. This account reveals shifting intersubjectivities of researchers and participants as the pandemic brought changes in the nature of the engagement, from ethnographic explorations into the roles of smoke in everyday life, through fieldwork suspension, and contextualised COVID-19 response. These experiences demonstrate how a basis of reflexive ethnographic engagement with communities can underpin thoughtful responses to upcoming challenges, with implications for future “global health” work, both within and beyond the pandemic context.
format	article
author	Sepeedeh Saleh Sepeedeh Saleh
author_facet	Sepeedeh Saleh Sepeedeh Saleh
author_sort	Sepeedeh Saleh
title	Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer
title_short	Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer
title_full	Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer
title_fullStr	Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer
title_full_unstemmed	Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer
title_sort	shifting positionalities in a time of covid-19: the transnational public health doctor and ethnographer
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/f9f6659d499e445987a07f19774ad396
work_keys_str_mv	AT sepeedehsaleh shiftingpositionalitiesinatimeofcovid19thetransnationalpublichealthdoctorandethnographer AT sepeedehsaleh shiftingpositionalitiesinatimeofcovid19thetransnationalpublichealthdoctorandethnographer
_version_	1718397332934885376

Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer

Ejemplares similares