Irritations, Findings, and Transformation Following an Interview With a Female Muslim Environmentalist: (Narrative) Positioning and Self-Reflexivity in Relation to Interview Analysis

Abstract

Self-reflexivity is essential for ethnographic researchers and creates space to express their irritations, emotions, and associations which themselves can, in turn, lead to new insights. When irritation is felt, this needs to be considered using specific methods and reflexive techniques of data triangulation and methodological deliberation. In this article, I explain how the combination of narrative positioning analysis and ethnopsychological procedures helped me to understand my irritation while interviewing and how my emotions revealed themselves to be accessible to interpretation. Using a self-reflexive narration analysis approach, I identified the interviewee's religious, social, and moral positioning as well as how cultural and societal constellations are themselves bargained during the interview.  I conclude by reflecting on my own suppositions, emotions, and concerns, which thus encourages me to broaden my theoretical and practical understanding of "self-reflexive social criticism" (EGGMANN, 2009, p.255).