Volume 31, Issue 3

In order to develop a collaborative experience of reflexive writing, this article explores the ethnographic process through two communication devices used by the authors in their respective fieldwork: tarot readings and evolutionary astrology. Reflecting on their distinct (if not opposing) backgrounds, the authors explore and interpret how their different backgrounds and conversational devices shape their ethnographic experience as a process of revealing the unknown, following the not-knowing approach (Anderson, 1997). The dialogic exchange also reveals how the not-knowing approach affects the collaborative aspect of the reflexive writing experience.

This article describes experiences of long-term ethnographic fieldwork on disobedience, disloyalty and dissensus among women in public space in selected (post-)Yugoslav cities. I focus on the opportunities and pitfalls of feminist ethnography and methodology in the context of positionality, engagement and solidarity as essential elements of research into activist networks. In order to problematize the emerging field positionalities and solidarities, I examine the “militant ethnography” methodological approach (Jeffrey Juris), which seeks to move beyond the divide between research practice and politically engaged participation. It is about being among and within the activist network and adopting many identities and roles by constantly shifting between reflective solidarity and analysis. In trying to shed light on the critical self-reflective research process of embodied understandings and experiences, I focus on ethnographic practices embedded in transnational “crowded fields” that encompass the dynamics of relationships and dependencies between knowledge producers.

In our everyday lives, we often have to blend our different roles and various selves. Sometimes, they coexist in harmony. But there are times when they come into conflict, and we have to make a significant effort to get them back in balance. This paper focuses on my scientific/artistic practice in anthropological documentary film-making. Drawing on two films I have directed, I reflect on situations where I needed to compromise my different roles and perspectives on the film set and beyond. My actions and decisions have drawn on anthropological principles in documentary film-making. Through my autoethnographic reflection, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that in anthropological film-making, anthropology cannot be dominant nor submissive to storytelling. It should be the principle that guides the author (director) in achieving their focus and in creating the meaning of the story.

Most academics write in a dispassionate, third-person voice. That stylistic choice is so expected in academic contexts that when an evocative, first-person voice is used instead, it feels unsettling and out of place to many of us. But why should we react so negatively to such a subversion of expectations? Is it because of the subversion itself, or is it because of an inherent incompatibility between evocative writing and realist analytical traditions? In this paper I’ll show that the freedom of first-person, evocative writing in autoethnography is a strength to be embraced rather than something to be avoided. I’ll further show how offering readers a more complete sensory understanding of experience and meaning isn’t incompatible with realist analytical traditions. I will do this through an exploration of my current research on childhood sexual abuse, which has inspired me to set aside my initial unease with evocative writing and embark on a journey from autoethnographic skeptic to advocate.

For the researcher, long-term qualitative investigation of a given subject matter represents an opportunity to acquire comprehensive knowledge of that subject matter in all of its dynamism and complexity. The author of this paper has been carrying out such research among Holocaust survivors, mainly employing the oral history method. This paper is an impressionistic story, a genre not commonly found in Slovak ethnological literature. It constitutes a first attempt to revisit material emerging from years of collaborative investigation with one particular female survivor. The paper alternates between reflections of selected situations and interpretations of events and processes which resulted from the research partner’s activities between 1995 and 2015.

This autobiographically based article aims to consider the practical application of Anderson’s conception of analytic autoethnography under particular circumstances and requirements for its use. It reflects on the friendships that developed between me and my key informants during ethnographic research. In this context I refer to autoethnography as a method that allows researchers to identify aspects of their lives that have relevance beyond the personal and deal analytically with friendships in the field. Moreover, I consider how the researcher can analytically handle friendships in the field using analytic autoethnography, even when he is not a complete member of the community under investigation.

The article reflects on the use of autoethnography in researching football fan culture. It identifies the benefits and challenges of using autoethnography as a strategy and a research method for understanding football fan culture. Despite numerous examples of the use of autoethnography in football research, including supporter studies, it has yet to be considered from a strictly theoretical perspective on the methodological dilemmas of the researcher–football fan. The article critically analyses the entire process of autoethnographic research, which led to the conceptualisation of a research project on perceptions of football competitions. This paper is the result of a clash between a junior scientist’s original research concept and a more experienced ethnographic researcher’s critical approach and reflects the discussion between them. The authors believe that the conclusions reached may be helpful for researchers in the field of humanities and social sciences considering using autoethnography in their research.

The article investigates the autobiographical aspects of Ryszard Kapuściński’s reportage pieces. The journalist’s complete works provide the material for this study. Autobiographism is understood here broadly, not only as the presence of a selfnarrative in the documentary accounts, but also as the implicit influence of the foreign correspondent’s life experiences on his interpretation of the events he reports. Kapuściński’s work early was primarily influenced by the experiences of poverty during the Second World War and the post-war period, the post-war loss of his little homeland as Poland entered the orbit of the Soviet Union’s influence, as well as his involvement in a socialist youth organization. These personal experiences constitute an important context for the interpretation of his works, which is shown using examples from his reports.