Caring as an Organizing Principle: Reflections on Ethnography of and as Care

This essay is a personal reflection – what Van Maanen (2011) calls a ‘confessional tale’ – about my first experience as an ethnographer. It is a reflection on the four months I spent researching a group of young activists who organized for a political campaign in Mexico City. In particular, it describes how—while observing their everyday lives and work—I came to develop strong feelings of care (affection and concern) for their well‐being and success. I reflect on how these feelings structured my engagement with the work and my role as researcher and the practices of care that I developed for others and myself in order to cope. Departing from the notion that feelings are a natural and important part of doing fieldwork, I ask how we, as situated actors, deal with feelings of affection and concern. How do we cope with the physical and emotional demands of caring while doing our job? And what kinds of roles and strategies should we develop to protect others, ourselves and our research?