‘Are you a refugee like us? Oh then we have hope!’ Affective discursive encounters in doing insider Other research

Abstract

Abstract In this article, I reflect on how paying attention to the flow of affect between participants and the researcher during interviews unveils knowledge that highlights inequalities and advances a decolonial approach. I specifically discuss the capacity of productive discomfort in revealing valuable insights about the lived experiences of forced migrants and in uncovering knowledge that might otherwise stay hidden. In doing so, I demonstrate how my positionality as an ‘insider Other’ and my approach to interviews as affective encounters open up profound layers of experiences and sense-making. Expanding upon this, the study presents a unique framework that combines the method of interviews, conceptualized as situated affective encounters, with an affective-discursive analytical framework that views affect as intertwined with meaning and discourse. This fusion emphasizes the significance of emotions as a source of knowledge in the research process. The study highlights how this approach contributes to the reflexivity turn in migration studies and elucidates how the combined framework can guide researchers to work with discomfort. This can be a source of insight, as demonstrated by reflecting on my own research on the lived experiences of Eritrean migrants. I use several excerpts from my data to demonstrate how viewing emotions as meaningful leads to nuanced interpretations, thereby enriching insights into the living conditions of those who arrived as forced migrants.