Familiarity and distance is an issue that is much discussed in ethnographic fieldwork. This paper focuses on the topic of balancing familiarity and distance when the researcher is directly or indirectly part of the field, which in the study consists of an adult education context of two different teacher-training courses for upper secondary…

As ethnographers we are familiar with methodological debates problematising ethnography's inherited and inherent connections to ideas of authenticity commonly mobilised to legitimate modes of representation. In this paper, we engage with the post-structural philosophies of Jacques Rancière and Judith Butler, to argue that methodological tools of…

This article uses the notion of a "sensitising concept" in order to understand insider and outsider dynamics in cross-organisational field research. The analysis is based on a study of learning and innovation in the social and health care educations in Denmark. As these educations combine classroom training and workplace internships, the…

This article contributes to the debate on decolonising methodologies in qualitative research by considering how a white researcher can try and destabilise white supremacy when explicitly conducting research with social justice aims. It draws on data from a recent ethnographic study of minority ethnic pupils' experiences in secondary schools in…

This article reports on a study of apprentices in England and Germany designed to explore young people's learner identities over time and in relation to particular learning environments. The research adopts a multi-method ethnographic approach, combining biographical interviews with multi-site participant observation. The article problematises the…

Little work in the social sciences or in the field of education has fully explored the methodological issues related to the study of race and racism, yet qualitative researchers acknowledge that race plays (and should play) a role in the research process. Indeed, race frames and informs the context, practices and perspectives of everyday lived…

This paper explores the challenge of matching practice with the ideals of participatory research and the reflexivity and (re)negotiation of the researcher's role. We highlight the centrality of emotions to our study, both in terms of the substantive topic and our observations and experiences as researchers. Building on this experience we argue…

Arrival stories are said to be typical components of anthropologically informed ethnographies in which the ethnographer as "stranger" comes face to face with research subjects as "others", establishes a context for the research and perhaps uses the story to justify the validity of his or her observations. The notion of a conventional ethnographic…

The apparent simplicity of ethnographic methods--studying people in their normal life setting, going beyond what might be said in surveys and interviews to observe everyday practices--is deceptive. Anthropological knowledge is gained through fieldwork and through pursuing a reflexive flexible approach. This study carried out in a non-government…

This paper explores the challenges and dilemmas of conducting ethnographic race research in the context of the South African situation, forming part of my ethnographic race research PhD project, conducted in two historically white, single-sex schools in South Africa. First, it critically examines the theoretical dilemmas on crucial issues of…