Harassed

Gender, Bodies, and Ethnographic Research

Bibliographic Data

ID2990633
AuthorsRebecca Hanson (0000-0002-4643-0861), Patricia Richards (0000-0001-6727-0409)
Year2020
Volume98
Issue4
Pages1-3
Publication date2020-06-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Forces (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7732 • E-ISSN: 1534-7605
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/sf/soz166
OpenAlexW2943773292
ISBN9780520299047
LanguageEN
Citations received18

As a graduate student conducting interviews alone in rural locations, I experienced flirtatious comments (directed to me, or between men talking about me) and physical contact from participants that made me uncomfortable; some of my friends faced far worse. We occasionally talked about these incidents among ourselves and developed some strategies to feel safer—sharing a list of our expected locations for the day or agreeing to call each other by a certain time to check in. But mostly we just hoped for the best. Our focus was on proving we were capable researchers, able to get worthwhile data. Besides, our training about human subjects protection taught us that we were in positions of power over the people we interviewed; if anything, we needed to be sure we weren’t harming them. As I read Harassed, I recognized myself. Rebecca Hanson and Patricia Richards interviewed ethnographers who reported flirting by interview participants, requests for sexual favors from local informants, groping and other unwanted contact, attempted break-ins to their rooms, and sexual assault. The authors analyze these experiences not just to highlight risks women face while doing fieldwork but to critique common understandings of “good” ethnographic research: that it is solitary, dangerous, and requires intimacy to create authentic connections between the researcher and participants. These are common features of popular ethnographies that receive mainstream media attention, win book awards, and appear frequently on course syllabi.

Ethnography · Face (sociological concept) · Flirting · Mainstream · Social science · Sociology · Law · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Social Psychology