Abstract:
This paper explores issues related to designing and undertaking ‘good’ rural research – research that is grounded in the specificities of place and space – when the researcher is located in an urban Elsewhere. With a growing acknowledgment in the field that rural research should be done with and for the participants’ local communities, key methodological and ethical questions are raised for researchers who are not local. In this paper, I build on the growing body of literature that considers the tensions, challenges, and creative opportunities that arise in creating ‘good’ rural-focused research projects while based in an urban university.
Using a self-study methodology, I critically reflect on the design and initial fieldwork stages of a larger ethnographic project. The larger project centres on the role of rural sporting clubs in youth transitions and connections both within and out of their community. Through a narrative analysis, the main themes of issues I encountered in establishing my rural-based ethnographic study were around tensions, challenges, and opportunities. There were tensions arising from being an insider/outsider to the participants’ communities – an insider from previous experience in the community but not a Local, while also now an outsider but not a Stranger. Key challenges involved managing ethical considerations in small communities as well as the practicalities of planning and undertaking fieldwork far from work and home. Some of the main opportunities were generated from a ‘refreshed’ perspective enriched by collaborations with a wide variety of academic peers and further academic work concerning (my) rural identity. Finally, I provide some strategies and questions for researchers to consider when they are designing their own rural-based projects from an Elsewhere.
Using a self-study methodology, I critically reflect on the design and initial fieldwork stages of a larger ethnographic project. The larger project centres on the role of rural sporting clubs in youth transitions and connections both within and out of their community. Through a narrative analysis, the main themes of issues I encountered in establishing my rural-based ethnographic study were around tensions, challenges, and opportunities. There were tensions arising from being an insider/outsider to the participants’ communities – an insider from previous experience in the community but not a Local, while also now an outsider but not a Stranger. Key challenges involved managing ethical considerations in small communities as well as the practicalities of planning and undertaking fieldwork far from work and home. Some of the main opportunities were generated from a ‘refreshed’ perspective enriched by collaborations with a wide variety of academic peers and further academic work concerning (my) rural identity. Finally, I provide some strategies and questions for researchers to consider when they are designing their own rural-based projects from an Elsewhere.