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Field Closeting: Navigating Fieldwork as a Queer Scholar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2024

Campbell M. Stevens
Campbell M. Stevens*
Affiliation:
USA
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Extract

Fieldwork is fraught with methodological and ethical concerns, particularly for those junior scholars seeking to establish themselves. There is a pressure to conduct research that pushes the boundaries of emerging techniques and brings our theories to bear on case studies that are underrepresented in the literature. Although this pressure is felt by nearly everyone, the barriers to accessing fieldwork and the premium of privilege lead to significant inequalities (Fujii 2016), which are becoming increasingly apparent as the academy diversifies. Being a white cis-male, I have benefited from overarching systems of privilege across my education, my career, and my international fieldwork. Yet as a gay man, international fieldwork poses potential challenges, illuminating additional realities with which researchers must contend.1

Type
Fieldwork Methods and Experiences of Sexual Harassment and Assault
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , April 2024 , pp. 302 - 305
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

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