Open AccessOn Reflexivity in Ethnographic Practice and Knowledge Production
Author(s) -
Ethnography and Knowledge Collective
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
commoning ethnography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2537-9879
DOI - 10.26686/ce.v4i1.6516
Subject(s) - reflexivity , ethnography , sociology , popularity , epistemology , value (mathematics) , politics , knowledge production , conversation , social science , political science , anthropology , knowledge management , computer science , law , philosophy , communication , machine learning
Deployed as much during fieldwork as in writing, reflexivity is itself positioned, its saliency as an epistemological device having transformed over time and space. Re-tracing its initial absence, subsequent rise in popularity and eventual routinization in academia, we position ourselves against reflexivity’s near-total displacement today by a narrow and increasingly prevalent understanding of positionality. We argue for a return to a broader and more relational understanding of reflexivity, proposing a methodological program to achieve and maintain its critical, ethical and political edge. Our aim is to engage in conversation about the value of reflexivity as an iterative and collaborative ethnographic endeavour with potential to produce more relational and engaged knowledge about increasingly overbearing field-sites in the Arab region and beyond.