As master students having just conducted fieldwork, we struggled to navigate the methodological and ethical challenges of interpersonal relationships with interlocutors. In all our experiences, caring for ourselves and our interlocutors in the field was fraught with difficulty. Conducting fieldwork with vulnerable groups, many of us felt ill-prepared for the realities of the field. We had to learn to negotiate between responsibilities of care for interlocutors and responsibilities regarding the research process.

As first-time ethnographers, we are also in need of care ourselves. We have experienced a range of care, indifference, concern and neglect both in the field and from our academic institutions. There is a tension between the myth of the lone ethnographer and a new rhetoric of care from anthropological institutions, which are embedded in the structures of the neoliberal university. For this panel, we would like to explore how to practice care at our institutions and in the field from a perspective of limited experience. This roundtable consists of two parts. For the first hour, students will present reflections on care in their respective fields. For the second hour, we open up discussion for constructive criticism on how university staff could better deal with preparing students for navigating relationships of care in the 21st century fieldsite. Is there a discrepancy between the literature on ethics of care in the field and the realities of doing fieldwork? Based on our own field experiences, we present concrete recommendations for students that are about to do fieldwork for the first time.

Place and Time

This roundtable will take place in Verkstaden on Friday from 15:15-16:30.

Panel Conveners

Master's students at Stockholm University