“I Grew Up a Working-Class Evangelical”

Abstract

This article explores three ways intersubjectivity is implicated in an ethnography of the lived experience of members of an interfaith and labor coalition. First challenging dualistic thinking and the strict application of typologies, I emphasize the importance of understanding faith practices through the study of lived experience. When one studies lived experience, several layers of intersubjectivity are at play. Because I grew up in a religious, working-class family, aspects of my life now serve as cultural capital in understanding the daily challenges of coalition participants who redefine the institutional boundaries between religion and work. Furthermore, field interactions between the researcher and participants affect members’ explanations of their activism. Finally, the life of the ethnographer is affected by the overall experience of fieldwork.