Embracing temporality: Reflexive insights into positionality and relational dynamics in intercultural research

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Reflexivity has increasingly become a focal point in qualitative research as researchers embrace their evolving roles and presence in the research process. In this article, I explore the complexities of reflexive practice, highlighting notions of relationality, intercultural research and hierarchical structures. Through personal reflexive diaries, I investigate how nuanced shifts and transformations in my identity and positionality were negotiated over time. Specifically, I reflect on my transition from researcher to Dasao (sister-in-law) during my Ph.D. fieldwork, where cultural and linguistic immersion simultaneously guided and challenged my inquiry. This journey confronted me with unforeseen complexities, prompting deeper engagement with reflexivity and positionality. I discuss the fear of becoming too involved in the research and with the participants, potentially (mis)leading the data. I describe my struggles moving in and out of fluid researcher roles, alternating between researcher/participant, insider/outsider, learned/learner - positions interwoven with, and inseparable from my own life experience. While time was central to gaining, understanding and developing positionality, it also highlighted my own research insecurities, which became further exposed by unplanned timescales, leading to unexpected friendships, fluid relational boundaries and an all-consuming reflexivity which thrived on time. By focussing on temporal dimensions, this study offers an innovative perspective on the challenges of reflexivity, the negotiation of roles and blurring of boundaries, researcher vulnerability and the dilemmas around accepting one's presence in the data.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100183
JournalResearch Methods in Applied Linguistics
Volume4
Issue number1
Early online date13 Jan 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 13 Jan 2025

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my participants who helped me see beyond the data. My becoming as a sister-in-law and a researcher was only possible under their consistent and seemingly effortless guan

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Keywords

  • Intercultural
  • Positionality
  • Reflexivity
  • Relationality
  • Temporality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Linguistics and Language

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