ABSTRACT
There is a long history of exploitive research conducted with sexual and gender minorities. Many of the forms of data recording that constitute fieldnotes fail to represent the complexity of research participants’ experiences and identit(ies). Drawing on queer theory, this chapter explores what it might look like to queer fieldnote practices. Fieldnotes are a critical site where researchers could better represent sexual and gender minority research participants, by recognizing a multiplicity of experiences and identities. As personal reflections from the researcher’s perspective, fieldnotes may contribute to ‘othering’ instead of privileging participants’ voices. In this chapter, I explore some ways in which researchers might combat the potential to misrepresent and pathologize sexual and gender minority identities in composing their fieldnotes. I provide an overview of how queering fieldnote practices can contribute critical reflexivity and work to destabilize problematic power dynamics. The chapter seeks to inform both the production and analysis of fieldnotes with a focus on documenting the complexities of identity to ensure the research acknowledges and affirms sexual and gender minorities instead of contributing to social erasure through fieldnotes practice.
