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Researching coethnic migrants: privileges and puzzles of "insiderness"
This article reflects on fieldwork experiences with coethnic migrants in London to challenge understandings of insiderness centred in shared ethnicity, as well as the usefulness of the insider-outsider divide in migration research more generally. Drawing on examples from a study of migrants' social relations, it shows how gender, migrant status, and occupational position sometimes shape research encounters in more important ways than shared ethnicity. Furthermore, whilst shared ethnicity is undoubtedly useful in certain respects, participants' ethnicised discourses and practices may also generate feelings of distance in the coethnic researcher. Whilst supporting the "ethnic bias" critique to migration studies (GLICK SCHILLER, ÇAGLAR & GULDBRANDSEN, 2006), the analysis thus highlights how both ethnic and non-ethnic factors alternate or interact to create perceptions of insiderness or outsiderness in specific research contexts.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
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FQS Forum: Qualitative Social ResearchISSN
1438-5627Publisher
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2Volume
16Department affiliated with
- Sociology and Criminology Publications
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- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2015-07-13First Open Access (FOA) Date
2015-07-13First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2015-07-13Usage metrics
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