Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork Seminar

Fieldwork as Emotion Work 

Speaker: Ruxandra Păduraru (University of Bucarest, Romania)

“I advocate for the formal recognition, systematic integration and indeed encouragement of the emotional labour inherent in many aspects of interdisciplinary research. This emotional dimension of research plays a critical role in shaping both the process and the interpretation of research findings.”

Fieldwork experiences are always deeply intertwined with personal lives in complex ways. However, rarely do we openly share fieldwork experiences from the perspective of the challenges encountered or the emotions experienced. This lack of transparency can result in our students feeling insecure and isolated in the field and may lead them to believe that any difficulties or setbacks are due solely to personal failings. 

My presentation draws from four years of fieldwork in Chilia Veche, an isolated village in the Danube Delta, first as an undergraduate student, later as a PhD student, and now from my experiences as trainer and coordinator for undergraduate fieldwork projects. From observations of how we manage our own emotions, those of our respondents, and the broader socio-cultural context, I aim to highlight the importance of acknowledging the emotional dimension of research before and after fieldwork, and, using concrete examples from relevant cases, to illustrate how this emotional dimension of our research labour significantly influences the interpretation of field data on return from fieldwork. 

Ruxandra Păduraru combines the roles of teaching assistant in the Department of Sociology and Social Work overseeing the practical training of first- and second-year anthropology undergraduates while completing her doctorate in Anthropology at the University of Bucharest. Ruxandra also holds a research assistantship in architecture at Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning in Bucarest and is the co-founder of the Architectural Anthropology Research Workshop at the Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies.

All are welcome to attend this free seminar, which will be held online via Microsoft Teams at 18:00 GMT (UK time). You will need to register in advance to receive the online joining link. Please click on the Book Now button at the top of the page to register.

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Programme
Autumn Term
Wednesday 6 November, 6pm-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Carolina Angel Botero, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, University of Pennsylvania. Thinking through the geographical limitations of the “field” (fieldwork in Colombia)

Wednesday 20 November, 6pm-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Sina Plücken & Nico Wilkins, University of Cologne. “Coming Out” in the Field: Reflections on Queer Ethnographic Positionalities (fieldwork in Cameroun and Namibia) 

Wednesday 11 December, 6pm-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Brian Valente-Quinn, University of Colorado Boulder. 
Aesthetic readings through field methods: on studying theatre and performance in Francophone Africa (fieldwork in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire)

Spring Term 2025

Wednesday 15 January, 6-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Ruxandra Păduraru, University of Bucarest, Romania. Fieldwork as Emotion-work (Chilia Veche, Romania)

Wednesday 12 February, 6-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Sardana Nikolaeva, University of Toronto, Canada. "Sanctioned Research”: Sanctions, Fieldwork, and Knowledge Production (Russia)

Wednesday 12 March, 6-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Raphael Verbuyst  (PhD, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and Ghent University, Belgium). Navigating failure before, during and after fieldwork

Wednesday 9 April, 6-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Mario Cepeda, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Ethics and Reflexivity in Ethnographic Interviewing: Experiences from Fieldwork in Post Conflict Peru

Summer Term 2025

Wednesday 30 April, 6-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Anneke Newman, University of Ghent, Belgium. Religious experience in the field: On ‘going native’, self-censorship and secular erasure (Senegal)

Wednesday 6 May, 6-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Deniz Yonucu, University of Newcastle. Crafting Refusal: The Ethics and Politics of Representation in Research (Turkey)

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Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork is a programme of informal academic talks and events organised by the Fieldwork Research Group in the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILCS).  The focus of the Conversations on Fieldwork seminar series is an exploration of the processes we engage with on the journey towards producing the published research output, covering all the stages involved in fieldwork in geographical, virtual or un-sited fields. Our online seminars provide a real-time platform open to scholars from around the globe. Each session includes a short slide presentation of up to 30 minutes. Invited speakers draw from lived experiences of navigating the spaces and situations that constitute their fieldwork universe to share findings and experiences which are then discussed with participants. All attendees are invited to engage actively and supportively in the week’s Conversation sharing either from their own experiences, or for participants planning to undertake fieldwork-based research for the first time, from their own expectations.


For further information on the Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork programme please contact the series convenors, Professor Claire Griffiths and Dr Kaya Davies-Hayon