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Concealing researcher identity in fieldwork and social media: Sexuality and speaking for participants
Author(s) -
Sou Gemma
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/area.12736
Subject(s) - identity (music) , human sexuality , sociology , ethnography , identity negotiation , narrative , gender studies , silence , negotiation , essentialism , lesbian , social psychology , psychology , anthropology , social science , aesthetics , philosophy , linguistics
Researchers often conceal or reveal parts of their identity to ensure the success of fieldwork. Yet, connection between researchers and research participants can now be maintained via social networking sites. This raises new questions about the ethics and practicalities of negotiating identity during and after fieldwork. The paper draws on a narrative ethnography of concealing my lesbian identity during and after ethnographic research in Bolivia. I demonstrate that in a socially mediated world the “curation” of researcher identity is no longer temporally and geographically bound to the periods and locales of fieldwork. Second, I argue that a researcher's decision to conceal elements of their identity may be informed by essentialist assumptions about research participants. Third, researchers may effectively colonise and silence research participants because they speak for them and remove any opportunity for participants to respond to the element of the researcher's identity being hidden, such as sexuality, class, or religion.