Pour une observation trébuchante

de l’inconfort de la posture ethnographique

Abstract

Conducting anthropological fieldwork « at home » implies that the researcher questions methods and access to the field. But how can one pretend to work at home when closer doesn’t mean more familiar? Distances between Us and Them keep moving as we are adopting a fully participant method which can lead to discomfort and clumsiness regarding the researcher’s experience. Furthermore, exploring and embracing discomfort and clumsiness rather than ignoring it allows using them as methodological and heuristic tools.