The researcher and the field assistant: A cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural viewing of positionality

Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

Volumn 29, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 24-36

  Pasquini, Margaret W ^a   Olaniyan, Oluwashola ^b  

^a BANGOR UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FEMINIST GEOGRAPHY; FIELDWORK; MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS; NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES;

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS; NATURAL SCIENCES; PERSONNEL TRAINING; RESEARCH; SOCIAL ASPECTS; TEACHING;

SOCIAL SCIENCES;

EID: 2942657585     PISSN: 03080188     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1179/030801804225012446     Document Type: Review

References (18)

1. L. McDowell: 'Valid games? A response to Erica Shoenberger', Professional Geographer, 1992, 44, 212-215.
2. H. J. Nast: 'Opening remarks on "Women in the Field"', Professional Geographer, 1994, 46, 54-66, 54.
3. B. Mullings: 'Insider or outsider, both or neither: some dilemmas of interviewing in a cross-cultural setting', Geoforum, 1999, 30, 337-350, 337.
4. A. Kobayashi: 'Colouring the field: gender, "race", and the politics of fieldwork', Professional Geographer, 1994, 44, 73-79; C. Katz: 'Playing the field: questions of fieldwork in geography', Professional Geographer, 1994, 44, 67-71.
5. A. Kobayashi: 'Colouring the field: gender, "race", and the politics of fieldwork', Professional Geographer, 1994, 44, 73-79; C. Katz: 'Playing the field: questions of fieldwork in geography', Professional Geographer, 1994, 44, 67-71.
6. K. V. L. England: 'Getting personal: reflexivity, positionality and feminist research', Professional Geographer, 1994, 44, 80-89.
7. I have described elsewhere the feelings of insecurity and the sense of not belonging that this caused me (see L. Lau and M. W. Pasquini: 'Meeting grounds: perceiving and defining interdisciplinarity across the arts, social sciences, and sciences', Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2004, 29, 49-64).
8. For a comprehensive theoretical discussion of the nature of interdisciplinary research see P. Sillitoe: 'Interdisciplinary experiences: working with indigenous knowledge in development', Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2004, 29, 6-23; and for a specific case study on interdisciplinary fieldwork, A. Galmiche-Tejeda: 'Who is interdisciplinary? Two views, two goals, professionals and farmers', Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2004, 29, 77-95.
9. For a comprehensive theoretical discussion of the nature of interdisciplinary research see P. Sillitoe: 'Interdisciplinary experiences: working with indigenous knowledge in development', Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2004, 29, 6-23; and for a specific case study on interdisciplinary fieldwork, A. Galmiche-Tejeda: 'Who is interdisciplinary? Two views, two goals, professionals and farmers', Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 2004, 29, 77-95.
10. See for example J. Adamson and J. L. Donovan: 'Research in black and white', Qualitative Health Research, 2002, 12, 816-825; B. Jentsch: The "interpreter effect": rendering interpreters visible in cross-cultural research and methodology', Journal of European Social Policy, 1998, 8, 275-289; and C. Twyman, J. Morrison and D. Sporton: 'The final fifth: autobiography, reflexivity and interpretation in cross-cultural research', Area, 1999, 31, 313-325.
11. See for example J. Adamson and J. L. Donovan: 'Research in black and white', Qualitative Health Research, 2002, 12, 816-825; B. Jentsch: The "interpreter effect": rendering interpreters visible in cross-cultural research and methodology', Journal of European Social Policy, 1998, 8, 275-289; and C. Twyman, J. Morrison and D. Sporton: 'The final fifth: autobiography, reflexivity and interpretation in cross-cultural research', Area, 1999, 31, 313-325.
12. See for example J. Adamson and J. L. Donovan: 'Research in black and white', Qualitative Health Research, 2002, 12, 816-825; B. Jentsch: The "interpreter effect": rendering interpreters visible in cross-cultural research and methodology', Journal of European Social Policy, 1998, 8, 275-289; and C. Twyman, J. Morrison and D. Sporton: 'The final fifth: autobiography, reflexivity and interpretation in cross-cultural research', Area, 1999, 31, 313-325.
13. Hausa word for foreign woman.
14. Pronounced as the French word 'madame', it is used to address a woman of status, Nigerian or foreign (and whether the status is conferred by age or social standing).
15. 'Boss' - of uncertain origin, probably Yoruba, but assimilated within pidgin English.
16. M. W. Pasquini: 'Soil fertility management strategies in irrigated peri-urban agriculture around Jos, Nigeria: an interdisciplinary approach', PhD thesis, University of Durham, UK, 2002, 65-66.
17. G. Rose: 'Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics', Progress in Human Geography, 1997, 21, 305-320, 316.
18. See L. Lau and M. W. Pasquini: 'Meeting grounds' (Note 6).