Caring encounters in ethnographic research : Unlearning distance and learning sharing

Abstract

In this chapter the authors (re)visit caring encounters in their ethnographic research. The empirical material stems from fieldwork notes, memories and the authors’ recorded dialogue between themselves based on their PhD research projects, which they conducted with two different groups of migrants with experience of cross-border mobility and seeking asylum. The authors first relate two moments when each realized that they had been distancing themselves from their research participants, while their research participants engaged in caring practices towards them. Reflecting on the influence that hegemonic images of refugees and asylum-seeking migrants may have had on their acts of patronizing and distanced care, they show how these moments enabled them to practise reflexivity. The remainder of the chapter underlines the value and importance of reciprocity of care, and demonstrates how the awareness of reciprocal caring practices may alter the research relations and research outcomes. In so doing, the authors also address some of the challenges, limitations and contradictions that are inherent in ethnographic research. Lastly, they identify the significance of sharing as a method of practising care between researcher, research participant and the reader.