Ethnographic reflexivity and the art of giving voice to children

Abstract

In recent years, researchers in childhood studies have pushed forward a critical agenda of revising the founding concepts of the field, that is, voice, agency, and participation. This implies engaging in a dialogue with those theoretical strands which decenter the subject and dissect the production of knowledge. In line with these trends, in this article, I engage with the poststructuralist frame in order to highlight the notions of relationality and reflexivity. In particular, I speak in the first person in order to take the position of a ‘reflexive researcher’ who is open about her own positionality and for whom this openness is instrumental for reaching a better understanding of her own entanglements in the research encounters with childhoods (in plural). This article treats the question of power, and, simultaneously, it delves into the feeling of powerlessness and it ignites a discussion about the practicalities of ‘giving voice’ in research concerning children. Discussing my two diverse research experiences based on the participatory and collaborative approaches, both concerning my work with children and with adults, I speak about my critical engagements with knowledge production understood as a social practice from a standpoint of a field researcher.