Expanding queer reflexivity: The closet as a guiding metaphor for reflexive practice

Abstract

In this article, I expand earlier work on queer reflexivity by positioning the ‘closet’ as a guiding metaphor for reflexive practice in field research. As such, I reconceptualize queer reflexivity as being reflexive about (1) negotiating the ‘closet’ by revealing and concealing multiple aspects of ourselves to others in the field, (2) the categories we use to identify ourselves and others, (3) the ways in which researchers construct (non)normative identities in the field and (4) aspects of ourselves that change in the field through interactions with others and the process of learning. In order to illustrate what field researchers can learn from this expanded conceptualization of queer reflexivity, I draw upon an auto-ethnographic tale about the implications of moving into and out of the closet in multiple ways over the course of the 2-year ethnography that I conducted for my dissertation research.