Being loyal to fieldwork: on building the "contract of silence" - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Data Mining and Digital Humanities Année : 2023

Being loyal to fieldwork: on building the "contract of silence"

Denisa Butnaru
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 1243719

Résumé

The aim of the present contribution is to analyze how relations of loyalty emerge between researcher and researched during ethnographic fieldwork and to defend a perspective against the principle of open science. I discuss methodological issues with respect to my several years of multi-sited fieldwork experience in various labs, research centers and medical institutions, during which I inquired into the design and use of exoskeletal devices. Exoskeletal devices are technologies applied to three fields of application: rehabilitation, industry and the armed forces. Their invention is the subject of high levels of economic and scientific competition. Given these constraints, I was compelled to develop "loyalty strategies", one of which I call the "contract of silence". I associate this category with an ethnographic exercise in how to address one's interlocutors during fieldwork. I conceive of this process as a result of consciously retaining the information obtained from interviewees that might endanger the position of the researcher in the field. Although a tacit contract with one's interlocutors during ethnographic fieldwork implies anonymity, certain sensitive fields and research situations require forms of auto-censorship and the control of published results. I associate these strategies with the fabrication of fieldwork secrecy.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
jdmdh12416_Being_loyal_to_fieldwork_on_building_the_contract_of_silence. Final.pdf (306.67 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-04101855 , version 1 (21-05-2023)
hal-04101855 , version 2 (18-10-2023)
hal-04101855 , version 3 (24-10-2023)
hal-04101855 , version 4 (07-11-2023)

Identifiants

Citer

Denisa Butnaru. Being loyal to fieldwork: on building the "contract of silence". Journal of Data Mining and Digital Humanities, 2023, ⟨10.46298/jdmdh.11394⟩. ⟨hal-04101855v4⟩

Collections

ENS-PARIS ADH
171 Consultations
154 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More