Enquêter sur la sexualité des néo-pentecotistes de la région parisienne

The purpose of this article is to discuss the methodological and epistemological stakes of a research conducted among a Neo-Pentecostal Christians of the Paris region. The study examines survey conditions research within Neo-Pentecostal Churches mainly attended by Afro-Caribbean migrants and their descendants, highlighting the ambivalence and particularities of the researcher’s position. Endeavoring to question the ethnographer’s implication regarding religion, the heuristic quality of his or her ethnic, cultural, religious, and eventual social closeness with the investigated environment, the author shows how a method based on self-unveiling and case-by-case work allows to widely rethink the classical notion of “good distance” that is central to the ethnographic relationship.