TY - JOUR
T1 - "Hanging Out" while Studying "Up"
T2 - Doing Ethnographic Fieldwork in International Relations
AU - Nair, Deepak
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Studies Association.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - This article advances a methodological argument on how to do ethnographic fieldwork amid social elites and inaccessible bureaucracies in international politics. Instead of participant observation or semi-structured interviews, the article proposes "hanging out"as an alternative strategy to generate immersion and ethnographic insight. While the ethnographer studying "down"is arguably always "hanging out"(the village as the exemplary mise-en-scene of this genre), this technique takes a more defined form when studying "up"elites. Specifically, hanging out when studying "up"is a strategy where the fieldworker commits to a period of continuous residence amid members of a community; engages in ludic, informal, and often sociable interactions outside or at the sidelines of their professional habitats; and participates in a range of activities where building rapport is as important as the primary goals of the research. I illustrate this methodological strategy and its payoffs by reflecting upon a year of fieldwork among the diplomats and bureaucrats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - an informal, quiet, and often sub rosa diplomatic project run by a band of mostly authoritarian states in Southeast Asia. This article contributes to debates on the viability of ethnographic fieldwork in international relations (IR); advances a methodological corrective to fieldwork prescriptions in new micropolitical studies of practice, interactions, and emotions in IR; and offers a practical illustration of what studying "up"looks like in diplomacy and international politics.
AB - This article advances a methodological argument on how to do ethnographic fieldwork amid social elites and inaccessible bureaucracies in international politics. Instead of participant observation or semi-structured interviews, the article proposes "hanging out"as an alternative strategy to generate immersion and ethnographic insight. While the ethnographer studying "down"is arguably always "hanging out"(the village as the exemplary mise-en-scene of this genre), this technique takes a more defined form when studying "up"elites. Specifically, hanging out when studying "up"is a strategy where the fieldworker commits to a period of continuous residence amid members of a community; engages in ludic, informal, and often sociable interactions outside or at the sidelines of their professional habitats; and participates in a range of activities where building rapport is as important as the primary goals of the research. I illustrate this methodological strategy and its payoffs by reflecting upon a year of fieldwork among the diplomats and bureaucrats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - an informal, quiet, and often sub rosa diplomatic project run by a band of mostly authoritarian states in Southeast Asia. This article contributes to debates on the viability of ethnographic fieldwork in international relations (IR); advances a methodological corrective to fieldwork prescriptions in new micropolitical studies of practice, interactions, and emotions in IR; and offers a practical illustration of what studying "up"looks like in diplomacy and international politics.
KW - diplomacy
KW - ethnography
KW - fieldwork
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102927599&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/isr/viab001
DO - 10.1093/isr/viab001
M3 - Article
SN - 1521-9488
VL - 23
SP - 1300
EP - 1327
JO - International Studies Review
JF - International Studies Review
IS - 4
ER -