Stumbling over researcher positionality and political-temporal contingency in South African second-home tourism research

Abstract

Over the past two decades, South Africa has experienced a series of fundamental changes in its institutional structures and society generally. This article provides an exploration into how these changes have impacted on field-based tourism research. Drawing on experiences involving a range of research contexts and different researcher types, the article first considers the impact of researcher positionality, demonstrating the dynamic ways in which identities and attendant power relations are created and transformed in various multicultural settings. Second, the article considers the importance of political-temporal contingency in framing the research process, illuminating the impact of research focus vis-à-vis the political and temporal context of the research and informants. The article concludes by suggesting that we consider these observations on a broader canvas, reflecting on the challenges these factors present researchers focusing on second-home development in South Africa.