Questionable Insiders: Changing Positionalities of Interviewers throughout Stages of Migration Research

Abstract

The article addresses methodological issues related to the consequences of researchers’ range of insider identities emerging over the course of completing subsequent stages of qualitative migration research projects. Taking on a temporal approach to the insider status evolving over the course of field entry, data collection, data analysis and dissemination, the paper engages with nuanced insider positionalities. These range from apparent, to trespassing, distanced and ambassadorial insiderness. Exploring a specific case of Polish mobility, the paper assumes a methodological focus and argues that being “on the inside” of the migration research field may go beyond gender, ethnicity and social status when it is linked to a project’s life-cycle.