From Nativeness to Strangeness and Back: Ascribed Ethnicity, Body Work, and Contextual Insiderness

Abstract

This article offers a reflection on a certain variant of broadening the position of “being inside” with some “buts,” or through “within but.” Drawing on my field experience in the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, I discuss the context-dependent, fluid and labile insiderness and the case of using a researcher’s embodied distinctions (senses, ethnicity, class) in the research site created by the fieldwork participants, and not the researcher him/herself. My considerations are embedded with the dialectics (not opposition) of the insider–outsider and point to the contextual “nativeness” and “strangeness” of the researcher. I also discuss the fluidity and contextuality of a researcher’s field familiarity, as well as when s/he conducts research in cooperation with “their own people,” as well as circumstances and factors that transform this familiarity into strangeness. I argue that the latter, instead of being an obstacle or barrier in the research, is a beneficial and mind-opening ethnographic tool.

Somewhere Between a Stopwatch and a Recording Device: Ethnographic Reflections From the Pool

“…As we have previously noted (e.g., Allen-Collinson 2013), however, it is debatable whether anyone-particularly in their research role-can ever be deemed a complete member of any social group, but it is likely to be more accurate to posit degrees of insiderness and outsiderness, which change over time, place, and social context. As Trzeszczyńska (2022) similarly argues in relation to ethnicity, the "nativeness" and "strangeness" of the researcher are always contextual. Furthermore, Bowles and colleagues (2021, 694) note in relation to their insider research on cricket, a researcher can be an "insider to the context" in Dandelion's (1997) terms, in being fully socialized into a particular sport and familiar with its peculiarities and "eccentricities."…”

“…Each coach in the program also has their own specific language and acronyms that I will need to get an understanding of moving forward. (Fieldnote, October 2017) Keeping this insider-outsider continuum frequently in mind, Gareth was aware that although his role had been agreed upon as a volunteer assistant coach, his insider-to-outsider status remained very much in flux throughout the project, generating its own specific possibilities, challenges, and limitations (see also Thorpe and Olive 2016;Trzeszczyńska 2022).…”

“…As we have previously noted (e.g., Allen-Collinson 2013), however, it is debatable whether anyone—particularly in their research role—can ever be deemed a complete member of any social group, but it is likely to be more accurate to posit degrees of insiderness and outsiderness, which change over time, place, and social context. As Trzeszczyńska (2022) similarly argues in relation to ethnicity, the “nativeness” and “strangeness” of the researcher are always contextual. Furthermore, Bowles and colleagues (2021, 694) note in relation to their insider research on cricket, a researcher can be an “insider to the context” in Dandelion’s (1997) terms, in being fully socialized into a particular sport and familiar with its peculiarities and “eccentricities.” In our own research, while an experienced competitive swimmer himself, Gareth was not previously familiar with the specific ethos, training regimes, language, or social actors of the particular university program where the research was being undertaken, as the following fieldnote/reflection illustrates: One of the challenges I am currently facing is adjusting to different language and symbols used at ANP Swimming.…”

Re-Conceptualizing Insider/Outsider Positionalities in Migration Research as ‘Liquid Positionalities’: An Analytical Tool for Migration Scholars

“…I frame and conceptualize social identities such as nationality and ethnicity within conceptions and theorizations that regard such social identity constructions as situational, contextual, constantly changing and reconfigured formations. Perceived insider/outsider positionalities of co-national/co-ethnic migration researchers are often generally mediated through conceptions of shared nationality/national origin and ethnicity, and hence it is important to situate these conceptions within the broader theoretical perspective of group identity perception and formation (Berger 2015;Camenisch 2022;Crean 2018;Decoo 2022;Gelir 2021;Halilovich 2022;Keikelame 2018;Kusow 2003;Lokot 2022;Mahmud 2021;McNess et al 2015;Medzani 2021;Mercer 2007;O'Connor 2004;Palaganas et al 2017;Pechurina 2014;Ryan 2015;Taylor 2011;Trzeszczy ńska 2022;Witcher 2010).…”

“…Drawing on secondary empirical and theoretical sources and fluid identity theories, this paper contributes to the scholarly literature on insider/outsider positionalities theoretical and conceptual debates in the field of international migration studies by proposing an analytical concept that I termed 'liquid positionalities.' The analytical conceptual lens of 'liquid positionalities' emphasizes the fluid, situational, alteredness, dynamic, changing, ephemeral and unpredictableness of co-national/co-ethnic insider/outsider researcher positionalities of migration scholars (Camenisch 2022;Crean 2018;Decoo 2022;Gelir 2021;Halilovich 2022;Keikelame 2018;Kusow 2003;Lokot 2022;Mahmud 2021;McNess et al 2015;Medzani 2021;Mercer 2007;O'Connor 2004;Palaganas et al 2017;Pechurina 2014;Ryan 2015;Taylor 2011;Trzeszczy ńska 2022).…”