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Title Making a difference with matter in researchers' positionality dynamics in qualitative inquiry
Full text https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/making-a-difference-with-matter-in-researchers-positionality-dyna
Date 2024
Author(s) Adjei, Moses; Nung Chan, Annie Hau
Abstract Scholars have increasingly highlighted the usefulness of new materialist theories and methodologies in attempts to address the perceived shortcomings of conventional theories inspired by social constructionism and post-structuralism. Contributing to these discussions, we utilize a new materialist theory which rests on a monistic ontology drawn from Spinozian and Deleuzian assemblage theory to examine the constitutive role of material elements (e.g. audio recorders, video cameras, and dress/shirts worn during interviews), spatial, and discursive forces in co-creating fluid nonstatic researcher positionalities in qualitative research process. This article is part of a larger ethnographic study conducted by the first author among fisherfolk in Ghana's coastal fishing communities. Our results show that the researcher's fluid positionalities during interview encounters were brought to bear and sustained in space and time through the joint effort of material, discursive, and spatial forces. As qualitative researchers seek ways to ensure better understanding of their study communities through intimate interactions, an attention to the assemblage of material-discursive forces in interview encounters may highlight some of the opportunities and obstacles in qualitative inquiry beyond human agency and negotiations.
Subject(s) assemblage; flat ontology; interview encounters; qualitative research; researcher positionalities
Language en
Relation https://edepot.wur.nl/679607
Type of publication Article/Letter to editor
Format text/html
Source Qualitative Research (2024); ISSN: 1468-7941
Rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Wageningen University & Research
Identifier 10.1177/14687941241288186
Repository Wageningen - University of Wageningen
Added to C-A: 2024-11-27;11:06:27