Desiring more: complicating understandings of sexuality in research processes
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Open Access Location
Authors
Diprose, G.
Thomas, A. C.
Rushton, R.
Keywords
Research processes
Sexuality
Fieldwork
Sexuality
Fieldwork
Description of form
Publisher
Rights
Rights holder
Issue Date
2013-09
Peer-reviewed status
Type
Article
Abstract
Reflexively considering one’s position when undertaking research has become commonplace in geographic
research and writing. This phenomenon is linked to the increasingly prevalent view that research
is a co-constituted process that involves the participant and researcher both constructing meaning. Yet,
curiously, there has been relatively limited discussion around the role that sexual experiences play in the
research process. In this article we draw on three experiences to illustrate the complex ways in which
unwanted sexual encounters with research participants can affect the research process. Through these
stories we show how sexual encounters shaped the research process, unsettled the way we understood
and performed our own gendered sexuality, and challenged our understandings of what it means to be
‘good researchers’. We aim to initiate a wider discussion around how we can best prepare emerging
researchers for, and support in the wake of, unexpected encounters of desire in the field.
Citation
Diprose, G., Thomas, A. C. & Rushton, R. (2013). Desiring more: complicating understandings of sexuality in research processes. Area, 45(3), 292-298.