The Distance to Delight

Abstract

This article documents the first stage of the qualitative research process: “entering the field.” In it, the author, a young graduate student, uses portraiture to describe her journey to find a “research site” and then establish a “research relationship” with this community, a town in rural Arkansas. This portrait offers a critical exploration of the author’s attempt to position herself in the field—locating herself through labels of race, geography, and occupation—and understand the layered identities and positions of community members. In struggling to build these relationships, the author questions the clinical language commonly used to describe the rich and complicated relationships often developed through qualitative work.