The Ethnographer Unbared: Reflections on Ethnographic Media Research Processes

Abstract

In this article, I unpack some of the challenges I faced doing ethnographic work on media production and consumption in the Balkans—particularly in the period of the 1990s-2000s in former Yugoslavia. I reflect on how my personal and intellectual background intersected with my fieldwork in a context that demanded constant (re)negotiation of my own identity, in relation not only to my participants and research colleagues in the region, but also to prevailing academic institutional practices. The article is not an autoethnographic account per se, but more a reflection on the research process in fieldwork sites experiencing great economic, political and social turmoil. As a young female researcher working in the area of cultural and media studies, I faced the problem of not being taken seriously by some research participants and colleagues early on, and had to identify and negotiate my way into the various cultural practices that would enable me to conduct effective multi-site research.

Keywords

• media
• Yugoslavia
• liminality
• gender
• class
• dialogue