Great Expectations: Studying My Own Community

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 5, 63 - 86, 17.10.2017

Setenay Nil Doğan

https://doi.org/10.21488/jocas.337785

Cited By: 1

Abstract

The literature on insider methodology in
social sciences underlines advantages for the insider researcher in addition to
more subtle problems and pitfalls in terms of the relationship between the
researcher and the researched.  This paper aims to explore my experiences as
the insider researcher studying Circassians in Turkey, my own community and
discuss their implications for researching Circassians in particular and ethnic
groups in general. As the insider researcher position provided “great
expectations” on the side of the researched and hence some very critical
advantages in the field for the researcher, it did not guarantee a fixed power
relationship as the interviews in the field took place within a series of
negotiations between the researcher and the informants in terms of age, gender,
class etc. This article is an attempt to explore these negotiations, complexities
and fluidities of positionality in the field and hence in the processes of
academic knowledge production. 

 

Keywords

Methodology, insider research, positionality

Большие надежды: изучение собственного сообщества

Abstract

Great Expectations: Studying My Own Community [Büyük Beklentiler: Kendi Etnik Grubunu Çalışmak]

Abstract

Sosyal bilimlerde
araştırmacının ‘içeriden’, araştırılacak grubun bir üyesi olması, araştırmacı
ve araştırılan arasındaki ilişki ve mesafe açısından çıkabilecek sorunların
dışında, araştırmacı için genelde avantajlı bir konum olarak kabul
edilmektedir. Bu makale benim ‘içeriden’ bir araştırmacı olarak Türkiye’deki Çerkesleri
çalışma deneyimlerimi ve bu deneyimlerin dar anlamda Çerkesleri, geniş anlamda
ise etnik grupları çalışma açısından anlamını tartışmayı hedeflemektedir.  İçeriden araştırma yapma pozisyonu,
araştırılanlar açısından “büyük beklentiler” ve benim açımdan da son derece
önemli avantajlar sağlamış olsa da bu çalışmanın dayandığı görüşmeler, araştırmacı
ve araştırılan arasındaki yaş, cinsiyet ve sınıf temelli müzakereler içinden
gerçekleşmiştir ve bu açıdan “içeri” ve “dışarı” kavramları sabit kavramlar
olmamıştır. Bu makale sahada (dolayısıyla da akademik bilgi üretimi
süreçlerinde) ‘içeriden’ araştırmacı ile araştırılan arasında sürekli müzakere
edilen güç ilişkilerini ve konumsallığın akışkanlığını ve karmaşıklığını
tartışmayı hedeflemektedir.

Keywords

Methodoloji, içeriden araştırma, konumsallık

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