ABSTRACT
M. Hammersley and P. Atkinson, which is often used in teaching methods in the social sciences, juxtapose reflexivity with naturalism in fieldwork. Reflexivity in the context of film reveals something about the way in which the film-maker constructs reality. When visual communication forms part of scientific fieldwork the relational aspects of research figure prominently through the dialogue between fieldworker and informants. In a media context, the personal responsibility of the journalist clashes with the structural power of an economic system in which viewer ratings and sales figures are paramount. One may argue that the reflexive form in ethnographic film potentially may create a kind of distant cognition that amplifies the identification of the viewer with the subjects. Reflexivity, at a concrete level, concerns the methodological integrity of the ethnographer. It is about accounting for the approaches used in the interpretative and constructive activities, the thoughts behind the approaches, the ideas behind the thoughts, and the emotions behind the ideas.
