Place anonymization as rural erasure? A methodological inquiry for rural qualitative scholars

Abstract

Through the lens of critical rural scholarship, this methodological paper offers reflections on the theoretical similarities between the qualitative research practice of place anonymization and the neoliberal project of place erasure. Using empirical data from a year-long ethnographic study of a remote rural community in Northern Wisconsin, I raise methodological tensions related to the choices we make as qualitative researchers related to masking or obscuring the names of rural places. Applying a critical geographic framework, I offer critiques of place anonymization as a protective measure for rural participants and decontextualization as a goal for broader theoretical application of the research findings. I then reflect on place masking as a form of methodological erasure that echoes the neoliberal erasure of rural places. In conclusion, I offer implications and suggestions for rural qualitative scholars concerned with spatial inequalities and place erasure.