Me again: Fieldwork, practice and returning

Many researchers return to field sites that are previously known in different capacities, thus upturning traditional notions of the “field,” particularly in qualitative fieldwork, of unknown places whose depths the researcher encounters anew. Returning in a different capacity affects not just the researcher, but also participants, and raises questions about research ethics with regard to changing positionality. This paper looks at the process of returning to a field that is already “known,” not just through books and writing, but through first‐hand experience. It explores the dynamics underlying the process of returning as a researcher, when one has a previously established identity in a place, in this case as a development worker. The paper will explore the nuances of attempting to bridge the divide between being a development worker and then a student doing ethnographic fieldwork in Assam. It will debate whether it is possible, or useful, to abandon one role for another. It also looks at the way a change in role affects the way we gain access, as well as how returning as a student reveals certain blind spots in the understanding of the field as it was known. Finally, the paper attempts to understand how changing positionality affects ethical concerns, such as those of how to engage as an outsider, and whether each return is marked by a different process.