Unsettling Politics, Locating Ethics

Representations of Reciprocity in Postpositivist Inquiry

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2385113
AutoresLisa Weems (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio)
Año2006
Volumen12
Número5
Páginas994-1011
Fecha de publicación2006-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaQualitative Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1077-8004 • E-ISSN: 1552-7565
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1077800406288628
OpenAlexW1970179663
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas32

This article traces the concept of reciprocity in historical and contemporary constructions of qualitative research methodology. It demonstrates how a particular construct-even if designed to serve as a liberatory corrective to hegemonic practices of social science (i.e., positivist)-can and does materialize into texts that reinscribe some of the foundational assumptions against which we position ourselves. Specifically, the author's analysis explores textual and material accounts of reciprocity and the implications of these practices by centering on three nodes: (a) the construction of reciprocity historically within ethnographic discourses, (b) the (feminist) practice of conceptualizing reciprocity in terms of individual interpersonal relationships in the field, and (c) deconstructive approaches to ethnography and the implications for reconceptualizing reciprocity. Through this investigation, the author argues that deconstructive analysis encourages researchers to sustain a commitment to issues of power but redirects the locus of attention from individual exchanges to the representations we produce

Epistemology · Ethnography · Hegemony · Political science · Politics · Positivism · Power (physics · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Law · Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics