Close quarters. Sailing the murky waters of an ethnography ‘at-home’

Abstract

This paper examines the tensions, struggles, and opportunities of doing ethnographies ‘at-home’. For the purpose of his PhD dissertation, the author returned to the city where he grew up, one of the biggest ports in France, with a strong maritime and industrial history. In this paper, the researcher reflexively recounts the social and personal springs of this longitudinal fieldwork among childhood friends and relatives in the working-class background from where he originates. While shedding light on the identity pressures that drove him to/through this research process, the author also addresses the profound emotional component of such investigation, as well as the difficulties of writing about it. Reflecting upon this singular experience, the paper eventually stresses how the researcher’s peculiar position influenced his methodological postures, determined the direction of his research questions and also how it ultimately provided robust original data and results, hereby asserting the strength of fieldwork conducted close to home for the production of critical and scientific social knowledge.