Pohran, Nadya;
Beal, Bree S;
Bielo, James M;
Howell, Brian;
Lackenby, Nicholas;
Meneses, Eloise;
Sommerschuh, Julian;
(2022)
Belief-Inclusive Research: Does Strategically "Bracketing Out" a Researcher's (Religious) Beliefs and Doubts Limit Access to Ethnographic Data?
Current Anthropology
, 63
(6)
pp. 691-713.
10.1086/722329.
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Abstract
This article outlines a methodological posture that I consciously adopted during recent ethnographic fieldwork. I call this methodological posture “belief-inclusive research” (BIR), and I see it as a complementary contrast to existing methodological frameworks that suggest the bracketing out of a researcher’s own beliefs. I offer BIR as a distinctive methodological posture for ethnographers who work in and with religious contexts. I demonstrate that the long-standing tradition of bracketing out questions of metaphysical truth during the writing-up phases of anthropology seems to have also impacted the fieldwork phase. I explore the ways that some degree of shared belief—which, crucially, I do not limit to doctrinal beliefs—between researcher and informants has the potential to widen a researcher’s access to certain types of data. In highlighting that the long-standing practice of bracketing has limited a researcher’s access to some kinds of data and in offering BIR as a new methodological posture, this article lays the groundwork for anthropology to construct new conceptual spaces that actively encourage a researcher to include their own (religious) beliefs and doubts in the midst of fieldwork.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Belief-Inclusive Research: Does Strategically "Bracketing Out" a Researcher's (Religious) Beliefs and Doubts Limit Access to Ethnographic Data? |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1086/722329 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1086/722329 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10159263 |
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