The problem of participation: ethnography and protest
The course of producing an ethnography can be chaotic, even confusing, and difficult to describe. The fact that it can be hard to develop upon existing methods as well as the impossibility of ethnographic work to be reproduced comes with a number of ethical considerations. The most pressing reflections concerning the wellbeing of participants but they also relate to the legitimacy of research that is produced. A recurring reflection that I’ve had to make concern the method of participant observation, or participation as a researcher in general. The problem of participation that occurs, is easily illustrated by some first hand experiences during a research about social movements. For a university exercise, I attended a march for International Women's Day in Rotterdam, because I thought this would be an easy event to practice participant observation. It was rainy during the day; me and my friend who joined wore winter coats. Years later, I still remember the contrast of my stiff and...