Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography
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Christina Flora
Abstract
In participatory ethnography, the boundaries between participants and researchers often become blurred, as both parties routinely shift roles throughout the knowledge construction process. This blurring contests and challenges the traditional power dynamics imposed by the research process. In this paper, we discuss how the design of a pilot project on the intersection of food, language, and migration not only dismantled these barriers but also created opportunities for “research outsiders” to actively participate in the research. Conceived as a multisited ethnography with collaborative and sensory elements, the project brought together Italian-speaking migrants working in London’s hospitality sector and a team of researchers for a series of dinners. These dinners explored how migrants used food talk to position themselves within London’s food scene against the backdrop of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse two key episodes to illustrate the complex ways in which research participants took ownership of the knowledge co-construction process. This included making bids for the conversational floor and actively supporting, shifting, and extending the conversation’s agenda. Additionally, due to the public nature of the spaces where we conducted our research, non-participants with stakes in the research (a waiter and a chef) actively and knowingly contributed to the negotiation of research identities and the polyphonic narratives being co-shaped around the table. Participants and research outsiders performed various roles, interacting not only with one another but also with the research space and the sensory and physical elements around them. We consider how our research complicates the roles that participants, researchers and “research outsiders” assume in the construction of knowledge in ethnographic work and the methodological and ethical implications created by the dynamic, interconnected and shifting nature of these roles.
Abstract
In participatory ethnography, the boundaries between participants and researchers often become blurred, as both parties routinely shift roles throughout the knowledge construction process. This blurring contests and challenges the traditional power dynamics imposed by the research process. In this paper, we discuss how the design of a pilot project on the intersection of food, language, and migration not only dismantled these barriers but also created opportunities for “research outsiders” to actively participate in the research. Conceived as a multisited ethnography with collaborative and sensory elements, the project brought together Italian-speaking migrants working in London’s hospitality sector and a team of researchers for a series of dinners. These dinners explored how migrants used food talk to position themselves within London’s food scene against the backdrop of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse two key episodes to illustrate the complex ways in which research participants took ownership of the knowledge co-construction process. This included making bids for the conversational floor and actively supporting, shifting, and extending the conversation’s agenda. Additionally, due to the public nature of the spaces where we conducted our research, non-participants with stakes in the research (a waiter and a chef) actively and knowingly contributed to the negotiation of research identities and the polyphonic narratives being co-shaped around the table. Participants and research outsiders performed various roles, interacting not only with one another but also with the research space and the sensory and physical elements around them. We consider how our research complicates the roles that participants, researchers and “research outsiders” assume in the construction of knowledge in ethnographic work and the methodological and ethical implications created by the dynamic, interconnected and shifting nature of these roles.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Language in strange and familiar places: A short introduction 1
- The eternal and the ephemeral 9
- Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan 39
- Hidden landscapes and the images of the “unseen”: from north-west Amazonia to the Middle Sepik region of New Guinea 75
- The intersection of language, religion, identity, and scholarship: Opportunities for the revitalization of Ge’ez 131
- Speaking of oneself in multi-term evidential systems: From the Himalayas to Amazonia 149
- Ideological and communicative perspectives on divination amongst the people of Northern Ghana 193
- Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography 223
- Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner 257
- Feierabendziegel: Roof tiles with celestial bodies on them, and how they are relevant for understanding experiences of contingency 287
- Index of authors 329
- Index of subjects 335
- Index of languages, language families, areas, and peoples 339
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Language in strange and familiar places: A short introduction 1
- The eternal and the ephemeral 9
- Language preservation in strangely familiar places: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan 39
- Hidden landscapes and the images of the “unseen”: from north-west Amazonia to the Middle Sepik region of New Guinea 75
- The intersection of language, religion, identity, and scholarship: Opportunities for the revitalization of Ge’ez 131
- Speaking of oneself in multi-term evidential systems: From the Himalayas to Amazonia 149
- Ideological and communicative perspectives on divination amongst the people of Northern Ghana 193
- Beyond participants–researchers–research outsiders: food talk and the (co-)construction of knowledge in multi-sited participatory ethnography 223
- Making and selling Greek food in London: Migrant hospitality professionals talk about food authenticity over dinner 257
- Feierabendziegel: Roof tiles with celestial bodies on them, and how they are relevant for understanding experiences of contingency 287
- Index of authors 329
- Index of subjects 335
- Index of languages, language families, areas, and peoples 339
