Power, Positionality, and Positions of Power: Reflexivity in Elite Interviewing

• In Event: Positionality and Reflexivity in Political Science II: The International Context

Abstract

There is increasing consensus that a researcher’s positionality matters for social science research and, correspondingly, of the necessity of reflexivity. A researcher’s physical characteristics and her social background impact her access, her interactions with participants and interlocuters, and her ability to forge ethnical working relationships. They also shape her interpretations of data and the generation of knowledge of itself. However, relatively greater attention has been afforded the role of power and positionality in ethnographic research within ‘non-elite’ settings than has been interactions with those in positions of power. In this paper, I center attention on the practice of reflexivity in the context of ‘elite’ interviews within organizational settings.

I have two central aims in this paper. The first is to document the particular challenges and opportunities of reflexivity in elite and organizational settings. I do this in two steps. First, I demonstrate that comparatively less attention has been devoted to the challenges and necessity of being reflexive in elite settings. I then show the substantive utility of being reflexivity, arguing that it is necessary for those interested in an appreciation of organizational culture and the practice of diplomacy, areas of growing interest in International Relations. My second aim is to outline some practical means of doing reflexivity in elite settings, including the necessity of recording and interrogating assumptions throughout the research process.

To accomplish these aims I explore the intersectional and contextualized effects of my own positionality, as a foreign, white, English-speaking male researcher in various settings. I draw on my experience conducting more than 100 interviews with diplomats and organizational officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Organization of American States (OAS), the African Union (AU), and other diplomatic centers, alongside the experiences of other scholars.

The paper demonstrates that elite and organizational settings present a host of challenges and opportunities for researchers and underscores the important of being actively reflexive through all stages of the research process. By reflecting upon and deconstructing my own experiences attempting to uncover culture and practice within international organizations, I highlight both the importance of active reflexivity in these contexts and outline some means of being reflexive therein. The paper offers students and scholars both a methodologically-grounded exploration of the challenges and complexities of reflexivity and a practice-oriented account of doing and being reflexive.

Author

• Aarie Glas, Northern Illinois University