Studying Migration in the Time of Trump: Power, Positionality, and Formal Politics in the Field

Abstract

In August 2016, I began fieldwork as Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential campaign reached its peak. As Trump’s popularity snowballed, his campaign and election dramatically reshaped my fieldwork, with implications for power and positionality in the field. This article details how fieldwork and the research process are shaped by formal politics. In particular, I examine the effects of Trump’s presidential campaign and election on fieldwork by exploring how these events transformed relationships and interactions between participants and me in the field. As I show, my identity and positionality in southern Mexico became increasingly visible through contemporary politics in the United States. This process, although unexpected and uncomfortable, provided key opportunities to engage with participants in conversations around my own power and privilege, highlighting the multiple and dynamic natures of positionality in the field. Such insights deepen understandings of positionality and contribute to the methodological literature in geography by detailing how identity and positionality in fieldwork are explicitly shaped by broader, formal politics, which often take place outside the researcher’s control. These issues are especially important as xenophobia and populism proliferate worldwide, complicating the relationships and interactions that unfold between researchers and participants as well as the broader ethics of conducting geographic research. Key Words: fieldwork, migration, positionality, power, Trump.