What is it about?
What happens when you choose to study those less powerful? This paper draws on a study of "non-academic" university staff to illustrate mthodologcal challenges of using ethnographic methods to study marginalised groups.
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Why is it important?
Higher Education Studies typically focus on academic staff, or students, or the localised effects of global forces (such as the outsourcing of functions like cleaning, catering and security), leaving this category of staff largely absent from the literature. While "insider" research brings its own challenges, these are amplified when the population under study also feels "voiceless", and additional ethical and political challenges present. the paper is presented in the form of a "confessional tale", which explores the interaction between the perceptions of the researcher and the reception of the researcher in the research context.
Perspectives
The original MEd study which informed this paper - presented at the Ethnology in Higher Education Conference in Prague - was conducted while employed among the study population. Ethical, political and methodological issues, as well as responsibilities, arising from this are explored through the device of a "confessional tale", a particular form of ethnographic account which interweaves the reflexive voice of the author through the main account.
Dr Vicki Trowler
University of Huddersfield
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: May the subaltern speak? Researching the invisible ‘other’ in higher education, European Journal of Higher Education, October 2013, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/21568235.2013.851614.
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