ABSTRACT
From the 1960s onwards the taken-for-granted conventions that researchers should strive for objectivity and the authority of the ethnographic text was challenged by the literary and postmodern turn in the social sciences. The reflexive turn arose as a response to the postmodernist critique of ethnography and ethnographic accounts, and as a means of dealing with the double crisis of legitimation and representation. This chapter outlines the development of the reflexive turn in ethnography and then provides an example of reflexivity in practice by drawing on my research with the male-dominated boy racer culture in Aberdeen, Scotland. I focus on the impact of my social location (gender, age, and class) and background on the research and on the construction and shaping of researcher identity/ies and relationships with participants. I specifically draw attention to my experiences of gendered interactions, including sexist treatment and sexual hustling, and the emotional challenges which arose as a result of these. These examples demonstrate that the researcher’s social position shapes access to the field, relationships with the researched, and the research process itself. Reflecting upon gendered interactions also highlights the ways in which the researched relate to the ethnographer, and provides insight into the dynamics of the social world or culture in question.
