“What’s he writing in there?” Reciprocal field relations and relational curiosity in ethnographies of education

Tummons, Jonathan

Abstract

The notion of the ethnographer as participant observer, as an active agent rather than passive observer within the research field, is well established within conversations about method and methodology. Less well explored is the extent to which the inherent curiosity and inquisitiveness of the ethnographer might be reciprocated: how might this reciprocity be established and how might it contribute to the construction of knowledge? Through a focus on the ways in which one of the most visible aspects of ethnographic field work – writing field notes – was made sense of and then interrogated by research respondents during an eight-month ethnography of workplace learning, this article argues that reciprocal field relations characterised by a willingness for the researcher to be interrogated about their work in a manner akin to the ways in which the researched are, here described as relational curiosity, both sustains good ethical engagement in the field and enhances the empirical warrant of the ethnography.

Citation

Tummons, J. (2024). “What’s he writing in there?” Reciprocal field relations and relational curiosity in ethnographies of education. Ethnography and Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2024.2368032

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 10, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 25, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 25, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 25, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 27, 2024
• Journal: Ethnography and Education
• Print ISSN: 1745-7823
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-7831
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2024.2368032
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2500726