When Reflexivity Is Not Enough
Doing Research with Polish Catholics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v5i1.78Keywords:
Catholics, Emotions, Feminist Methodology, Polish, ReflexivityAbstract
This article addresses the issues of reflexivity and emotional strain in fieldwork with religious populations. Undeniably, gaining access to, and forging relationships with, any social group is a challenging enterprise but the difficulty is particularly intensified when the researcher shares biographical characteristics with the researched. Based on two research projects with Polish nuns and Polish Catholic migrants, I explore the role of reflexivity in dealing with the emotional stress of fieldwork. I argue that although the lessons of feminist methodology have made fieldwork a collaborative and equal relationship between the researcher and the participants, when objective conditions in the field collide with the researcher’s cultural biography and dispositions, exercising reflexivity may not be sufficient to fix the problem.
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References
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Adams. L. L. 1999. “The Mascot Researcher: Identity, Power and Knowledge in Fieldwork,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 28.4, 331–63. doi:10.1177/089124199129023479
Adler, P. A., and P. Adler. 1987. Membership Roles in Field Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Armstrong, K. 1982. Through the Narrow Gate. Bantam Books.
Barker, E. 1987. “Brahmins Don’t Eat Mushrooms: Participant Observation and the New Religions,” LSE Quarterly, 1, 127–52.
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Becker, H. 1976. Sociological Work: Method and Substance. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Bourdieu, P., and Lo?c J. D. Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bowes, A. M. 1996. “Evaluating an Empowering Research Strategy: Reflections on ActionResearch with South Asian Women,” Sociological Research Online, 1.1 http://www. socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/1/1/1.html.
Brasher, B. E. 1998. Godly Women: Fundamentalism and Female Power. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Carey, J. T. 1972. “Problems of Access and Risks in Observing Drug Scenes,” in J. D. Douglas ed. Research on Deviance. New York: Random House, 71–92.
Chong, K. H. 2008. “Coping with Conflict, Confronting Resistance: Fieldwork Emotions and Identity Management in a South Korean Evangelical Community,” Qualitative Sociology, 31, 369–90. doi:10.1007/s11133-008-9114-0
Coffey, A. 1999. The Ethnographic Self: Fieldwork and the Representation of Identity. London: Sage.
Davidman, L. 2000. “Studying Close to Home: The Intersection of Life and Work,” Sociology of Religion, 61.4, 425–32. doi:10.2307/3712526
Doucet, A. 2008, “From her Side of the Gossamer Wall(s): Reflexive and Relational Knowing,” Qualitative Sociology, 31.1, 1573–7837. doi:10.1007/s11133-007-9090-9
Fine, G. A. 1993. “Ten Lies of Ethnography: Moral Dilemmas of Field Research,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22.3, 267–94. doi:10.1177/089124193022003001
Fine, M. 1994. “Working the Hyphens: Reinventing Self and Other in Qualitative Research,” in N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln eds. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 70–82.
Foltz, T. G. 2000. “Women’s Spirituality Research: Doing Feminism,” Sociology of Religion, 61.4, 409–18. doi:10.2307/3712524
Fonow, M. M., and J. A. Cook eds. 1991. Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Research. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Ginsburg, F. D. 1989. Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community. University of California Press.
Goldsmith, A. 2003. “Fear, Fumbling and Frustration: Reflections on Doing Criminological Fieldwork in Colombia,” Criminology and Criminal Justice, 3.1, 103–25. doi:10.1177/ 1466802503003001458
Gordon, D. 1987. “Getting Close by Staying Distant: Fieldwork with Proselytizing Groups,” Qualitative Sociology, 10 (Fall), 267–87. doi:10.1007/BF00988990
Griffith, R. M. 1997. God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hammersley, M., and P. Atkinson. 1995. Ethnography: Principles in Practice. 2nd edn; London: Routledge.
Harding, Sandra. 1987. The Science Question in Feminism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Harrington, B. 2003. “The Social Psychology of Access in Ethnographic Research,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34.5, 592–625. doi:10.1177/0891241603255677
Henry, M. 2007. “If the Shoe Fits: Authenticity, Authority and Agency Feminist Diasporic Research,” Women’s Studies International Forum, 30, 70–80. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2006.12.009
Ingersoll, J. 2002. “Against Univocality: Rereading Ethnographies of Conservative Protestant Women,” in J. V. Spickard, J. S. Landres and M. McGuire eds. Personal Knowledge and Beyond: Reshaping the Ethnography of Religion. New York: New York University Press, 162–74.
Kleinman, S., and M. A. Copp. 1993. Emotions and Fieldwork. London: Sage.
Luff, D. 1999. “Dialogue Across the Divides: ‘Moments of Rapport’ and Power in Feminist Research with Anti-Feminist Women,” Sociology, 33.4, 687–703.
Manning, C. J. 1999. God Gave Us the Right: Conservative Catholic, Evangelical Protestant and Orthodox Jewish Women Grapple with Feminism. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press.
Maynard, M. 1994. “Methods, Practice and Epistemology: The Debate about Feminism and Research,” in M. Maynard and J. Purvis eds. Researching Women’s Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor & Francis, 10–27.
Millen, D. 1997. “Some Methodological and Epistemological Issues Raised by Doing Feminist Research on Non-Feminist Women,” Sociological Research Online, 2.3, http://www. socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/2/3/3.html.
Oakley, A. 1981. “Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms,” in H. Roberts ed. Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 30–62.
Opie, A. 1992. “Qualitative Research, Appropriation of the ‘Other’ and Empowerment,” Feminist Review, 40, 52–69. doi:10.2307/1395277
Parameswaran, R. 2001. “Feminist Media Ethnography in India: Exploring Power, Gender, and Culture in the Field,” Qualitative Inquiry, 7.69, 69–103. doi:10.1177/107780040100700104
Phoenix, A. 1994. “Practising Feminist Research: The Intersection of Gender and ‘Race’ in the Research Process,” in M. Maynard and J. Purvis eds. Researching Women’s Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor & Francis, 49–72.
Punch, M. 1989. “Researching Police Deviance: A Personal Encounter with the Limitations and Liabilities of Field-work,” British Journal of Sociology, 40.2, 177–204. doi:10.2307/ 590268
Richardson, J. T. 1991. “Experiencing Research on New Religions and Cults: Practical and Ethical Considerations,” in W. Shaffir and R. Stebbins eds. Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 62–72.
Roberts, H. 1990. Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge.
Roberts, J. M., and T. Sanders. 2005. “Before, During and After: Realism, Reflexivity and Ethnography,” Sociological Review, 53.2, 294–313. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00515.x
Saukko, P. 2003. Doing Research in Cultural Studies: An Introduction to Classical and New Methodological Approaches. London: Sage.
Sampson, H., M. Bloor and B. Fincham. 2008. “A Price Worth Paying? Considering the ‘Cost’ of Reflexive Research Methods and the Influence of Feminist Ways of ‘Doing’,” Sociology, 42.5, 919–33. doi:10.1177/0038038508094570
Sherif, B. 2001, “The Ambiguity of Boundaries in the Fieldwork Experience: Establishing Rapport and Negotiating Insider/Outsider Status,” Qualitative Inquiry, 7.4, 436–47.
Simpson, B. 2006. “‘You Don’t Do Fieldwork, Fieldwork Does You’: Between Subjectivation and Objectivation in Anthropological Fieldwork,” in D. Hobbs and R. Wright, The Sage Handbook of Fieldwork. London: Sage, 125–39.
Sin, C. H. 2005. “Seeking Informed Consent: Reflections on Research Practice,” Sociology, 39.2, 277–94. doi:10.1177/0038038505050539
Skeggs, B. 2001,“Feminist Ethnography,” in P.Atkinson et al. eds. Handbook of Ethnography, London: Sage.
Sluka, J. A. 1990. “Participant Observation in Violent Social Contexts,” Human Organization, 49.2, 114–26.
Stacey, J. 1988. “Can There Be a Feminist Ethnography?” Women’s Studies International Forum, 17.4, 21–27. doi:10.1016/0277-5395(88)90004-0
Vanderstaay, S. L. 2005. “One Hundred Dollars and a Dead Man: Ethical Decision Making in Ethnographic Fieldwork,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34, 371–409. doi:10.1177/ 0891241605275478
Trzebiatowska, M. 2009. “Common Pathways, Different Lives; Catholic Nuns and Lesbians in Poland,” in S. Hunt ed. Contemporary Christianity and LGBT Sexualities. London: Ashgate.
Wallis, R. 1987. “My Secret Life: Dilemmas of Integrity in the Conduct of Field Research,” Religiøse Minoriteter. Aarhus Universitetetsforlag.
Waugh, E. 2000 [1945]. Brideshead Revisited. London: Penguin.
Adams. L. L. 1999. “The Mascot Researcher: Identity, Power and Knowledge in Fieldwork,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 28.4, 331–63. doi:10.1177/089124199129023479
Adler, P. A., and P. Adler. 1987. Membership Roles in Field Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Armstrong, K. 1982. Through the Narrow Gate. Bantam Books.
Barker, E. 1987. “Brahmins Don’t Eat Mushrooms: Participant Observation and the New Religions,” LSE Quarterly, 1, 127–52.
Beaman, L. G. 1999. Shared Beliefs, Different Lives: Women's Identities in Evangelical Context. St Louis: Chalice Press.
Becker, H. 1976. Sociological Work: Method and Substance. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Bourdieu, P., and Lo?c J. D. Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bowes, A. M. 1996. “Evaluating an Empowering Research Strategy: Reflections on ActionResearch with South Asian Women,” Sociological Research Online, 1.1 http://www. socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/1/1/1.html.
Brasher, B. E. 1998. Godly Women: Fundamentalism and Female Power. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Carey, J. T. 1972. “Problems of Access and Risks in Observing Drug Scenes,” in J. D. Douglas ed. Research on Deviance. New York: Random House, 71–92.
Chong, K. H. 2008. “Coping with Conflict, Confronting Resistance: Fieldwork Emotions and Identity Management in a South Korean Evangelical Community,” Qualitative Sociology, 31, 369–90. doi:10.1007/s11133-008-9114-0
Coffey, A. 1999. The Ethnographic Self: Fieldwork and the Representation of Identity. London: Sage.
Davidman, L. 2000. “Studying Close to Home: The Intersection of Life and Work,” Sociology of Religion, 61.4, 425–32. doi:10.2307/3712526
Doucet, A. 2008, “From her Side of the Gossamer Wall(s): Reflexive and Relational Knowing,” Qualitative Sociology, 31.1, 1573–7837. doi:10.1007/s11133-007-9090-9
Fine, G. A. 1993. “Ten Lies of Ethnography: Moral Dilemmas of Field Research,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22.3, 267–94. doi:10.1177/089124193022003001
Fine, M. 1994. “Working the Hyphens: Reinventing Self and Other in Qualitative Research,” in N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln eds. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 70–82.
Foltz, T. G. 2000. “Women’s Spirituality Research: Doing Feminism,” Sociology of Religion, 61.4, 409–18. doi:10.2307/3712524
Fonow, M. M., and J. A. Cook eds. 1991. Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Research. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Ginsburg, F. D. 1989. Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community. University of California Press.
Goldsmith, A. 2003. “Fear, Fumbling and Frustration: Reflections on Doing Criminological Fieldwork in Colombia,” Criminology and Criminal Justice, 3.1, 103–25. doi:10.1177/ 1466802503003001458
Gordon, D. 1987. “Getting Close by Staying Distant: Fieldwork with Proselytizing Groups,” Qualitative Sociology, 10 (Fall), 267–87. doi:10.1007/BF00988990
Griffith, R. M. 1997. God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hammersley, M., and P. Atkinson. 1995. Ethnography: Principles in Practice. 2nd edn; London: Routledge.
Harding, Sandra. 1987. The Science Question in Feminism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Harrington, B. 2003. “The Social Psychology of Access in Ethnographic Research,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34.5, 592–625. doi:10.1177/0891241603255677
Henry, M. 2007. “If the Shoe Fits: Authenticity, Authority and Agency Feminist Diasporic Research,” Women’s Studies International Forum, 30, 70–80. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2006.12.009
Ingersoll, J. 2002. “Against Univocality: Rereading Ethnographies of Conservative Protestant Women,” in J. V. Spickard, J. S. Landres and M. McGuire eds. Personal Knowledge and Beyond: Reshaping the Ethnography of Religion. New York: New York University Press, 162–74.
Kleinman, S., and M. A. Copp. 1993. Emotions and Fieldwork. London: Sage.
Luff, D. 1999. “Dialogue Across the Divides: ‘Moments of Rapport’ and Power in Feminist Research with Anti-Feminist Women,” Sociology, 33.4, 687–703.
Manning, C. J. 1999. God Gave Us the Right: Conservative Catholic, Evangelical Protestant and Orthodox Jewish Women Grapple with Feminism. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press.
Maynard, M. 1994. “Methods, Practice and Epistemology: The Debate about Feminism and Research,” in M. Maynard and J. Purvis eds. Researching Women’s Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor & Francis, 10–27.
Millen, D. 1997. “Some Methodological and Epistemological Issues Raised by Doing Feminist Research on Non-Feminist Women,” Sociological Research Online, 2.3, http://www. socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/2/3/3.html.
Oakley, A. 1981. “Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms,” in H. Roberts ed. Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 30–62.
Opie, A. 1992. “Qualitative Research, Appropriation of the ‘Other’ and Empowerment,” Feminist Review, 40, 52–69. doi:10.2307/1395277
Parameswaran, R. 2001. “Feminist Media Ethnography in India: Exploring Power, Gender, and Culture in the Field,” Qualitative Inquiry, 7.69, 69–103. doi:10.1177/107780040100700104
Phoenix, A. 1994. “Practising Feminist Research: The Intersection of Gender and ‘Race’ in the Research Process,” in M. Maynard and J. Purvis eds. Researching Women’s Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor & Francis, 49–72.
Punch, M. 1989. “Researching Police Deviance: A Personal Encounter with the Limitations and Liabilities of Field-work,” British Journal of Sociology, 40.2, 177–204. doi:10.2307/ 590268
Richardson, J. T. 1991. “Experiencing Research on New Religions and Cults: Practical and Ethical Considerations,” in W. Shaffir and R. Stebbins eds. Experiencing Fieldwork: An Inside View of Qualitative Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 62–72.
Roberts, H. 1990. Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge.
Roberts, J. M., and T. Sanders. 2005. “Before, During and After: Realism, Reflexivity and Ethnography,” Sociological Review, 53.2, 294–313. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2005.00515.x
Saukko, P. 2003. Doing Research in Cultural Studies: An Introduction to Classical and New Methodological Approaches. London: Sage.
Sampson, H., M. Bloor and B. Fincham. 2008. “A Price Worth Paying? Considering the ‘Cost’ of Reflexive Research Methods and the Influence of Feminist Ways of ‘Doing’,” Sociology, 42.5, 919–33. doi:10.1177/0038038508094570
Sherif, B. 2001, “The Ambiguity of Boundaries in the Fieldwork Experience: Establishing Rapport and Negotiating Insider/Outsider Status,” Qualitative Inquiry, 7.4, 436–47.
Simpson, B. 2006. “‘You Don’t Do Fieldwork, Fieldwork Does You’: Between Subjectivation and Objectivation in Anthropological Fieldwork,” in D. Hobbs and R. Wright, The Sage Handbook of Fieldwork. London: Sage, 125–39.
Sin, C. H. 2005. “Seeking Informed Consent: Reflections on Research Practice,” Sociology, 39.2, 277–94. doi:10.1177/0038038505050539
Skeggs, B. 2001,“Feminist Ethnography,” in P.Atkinson et al. eds. Handbook of Ethnography, London: Sage.
Sluka, J. A. 1990. “Participant Observation in Violent Social Contexts,” Human Organization, 49.2, 114–26.
Stacey, J. 1988. “Can There Be a Feminist Ethnography?” Women’s Studies International Forum, 17.4, 21–27. doi:10.1016/0277-5395(88)90004-0
Vanderstaay, S. L. 2005. “One Hundred Dollars and a Dead Man: Ethical Decision Making in Ethnographic Fieldwork,” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 34, 371–409. doi:10.1177/ 0891241605275478
Trzebiatowska, M. 2009. “Common Pathways, Different Lives; Catholic Nuns and Lesbians in Poland,” in S. Hunt ed. Contemporary Christianity and LGBT Sexualities. London: Ashgate.
Wallis, R. 1987. “My Secret Life: Dilemmas of Integrity in the Conduct of Field Research,” Religiøse Minoriteter. Aarhus Universitetetsforlag.
Waugh, E. 2000 [1945]. Brideshead Revisited. London: Penguin.
Published
2010-11-05
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Trzebiatowska, M. (2010). When Reflexivity Is Not Enough: Doing Research with Polish Catholics. Fieldwork in Religion, 5(1), 78-96. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v5i1.78
