“I got caught in my own trap”

Abstract

For women ethnographers, research involving predominantly male far‐right activists can involve many challenges—ethical, methodological, and emotional. Drawing on interviews and long‐term participant observation, I reflect on my fieldwork with Polish far‐right activists in the UK. In particular, I consider how this work demanded that I continually negotiate methodological access, gendered power, emotional self‐management, and my opposition to my interlocutors’ politics. In this critical self‐reflection, three key questions emerge: (1) How can researchers cultivate empathy and navigate professional regard for far‐right activists without compromising their ethical stance? (2) What are the ethical and methodological implications of using flirtation as a strategy in the field? (3) How can third‐wave feminist understandings of agency shape the emotional experience and practices of ethnographic fieldwork in male‐dominated far‐right milieus?