The repatriation of anthropology: Some observations on Endo-ethnography

Social identities in the field: how fluctuating fieldworker identities shape our research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to developing the understanding and practice of fieldwork in familiar settings by expanding the literature on fieldworker identities.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a multinational biopharmaceutical corporation, and drawing on anthropological theory of social identities, the paper demonstrates the multiple and fluid identities that we as organizational ethnographers purposefully take on, accidentally acquire, unintentionally are ascribed with and experience during ethnographic fieldwork in familiar settings.

Findings

Building on these insights, and by expanding the literature on researcher identities, the paper develops a critique of the spatial and temporal notions often attached to fieldwork in familiar settings by demonstrating how outsider identities are ascribed even “at home” and how insider identities can be experienced when away. It further reflects on the ways in which these identities shape the data generation and interpretation process.

Originality/value

This paper argues that to properly grasp the multiple identity processes involved in a fieldwork, we must escape the spatial and temporal conceptualization of being either an insider or an outsider. Instead, the paper argues for a relational and situational perspective on being an insider and an outsider in the field and proposes to conceptualize “insider” and “outsider” as ascribed, changing and sometimes volatile social identities.

Supervising Personality Assessment: The Integration of Intersubjective and Psychodynamic Elements in the Supervisory Process

The supervision of personality assessment can be likened to the process of teaching art. Much like artistic training, supervision of personality assessment is a complex process that calls for creative integration of different working processes, some more technical and formal and others broader and more complex. On the surface, compared to psychotherapy supervision, supervision of personality assessment is fairly structured and centered on specific tasks such as scoring, making a diagnosis, or determining personality organization. Nevertheless, principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy such as parallel processes are relevant as well. We discuss the process of integrating intersubjective and psychodynamic elements into personality assessment supervision and argue that this integration helps the supervisory work to proceed effectively. We present the role of knowledge, the institution, and parallel processes in the supervisory work.