From "being there" to "being ... where?": relocating ethnography

Abstract

Purpose: Expands recent discussions of research practice in organizational ethnography through engaging in a reflexive examination of the ethnographer’s situated identity work across different research spaces: academic, personal and the research site itself. Approach: Examines concerns with the traditional notion of ‘being there’ as it applies to ethnography in contemporary organization studies and, through a confessional account exploring my own experiences as a PhD student conducting ethnography, considers ‘being ... where’ using the analytic framework of situated identity work. Findings: Identifies both opportunities and challenges for organizational ethnographers facing the question of ‘being ... where?’ through highlighting the situated nature of researchers’ identity work in, across and between different (material and virtual) research spaces. Practical implications: Provides researchers with prompts to examine their own situated identity work, which may prove particularly useful for novice researchers and their supervisors, while also identifying the potential for incorporating these ideas within organizational ethnography more broadly. Value: Offers situated identity work as a means to provide renewed analytic vigour to the confessional genre whilst highlighting new opportunities for reflexive and critical ethnographic research practice