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Looking Within: A Call for Greater Reflexivity in Expatriate Research

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandra Ridgway

    (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

  • Kate Lowe

    (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

Abstract

Self-examinations of researcher positionality are central to understanding how scholars engage with research populations and vice versa. Discussions of how researchers are positioned are considered particularly important when studying groups whose vulnerability is well-accepted. Less is known, however, about the role of researcher positionality when interviewing participants deemed privileged, such as expatriates. Researchers who study expatriates overwhelmingly omit to discuss their positionality and how this shaped their research processes and outcomes. In response, our article calls for a turn in expatriate scholarship towards greater, and more public, examinations of researchers’ social locations and their effects. Drawing upon our research experiences in Hong Kong, we explore the complexities of conducting reflective practice when investigating expatriate life and highlight an over-reliance on the field to trigger considerations of positionality. In response, we suggest that expatriate researchers should be more proactive in their reflexivity and offer some prompts for these self-assessments. Beyond this, we advocate for more conducive research environments, including systems of peer support, to enable expatriate researchers to deepen understandings of their own positionalities while also holding each other reflexively accountable. These suggestions also hold potential benefit for other sociologists such as those studying elite populations and/or the globally mobile.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandra Ridgway & Kate Lowe, 2022. "Looking Within: A Call for Greater Reflexivity in Expatriate Research," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 1077-1093, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:27:y:2022:i:4:p:1077-1093
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804221107677
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Joseph Richardson, 2018. "Occupy Hong Kong? Gweilo Citizenship and Social Justice," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(2), pages 486-498, March.
    2. Yvonne McNulty & Jakob Lauring & Charlotte Jonasson & Jan Selmer, 2019. "Highway to Hell? Managing expatriates in crisis," Journal of Global Mobility, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 157-180, July.
    3. Darya Malyutina, 2014. "Reflections on Positionality from a Russian Woman Interviewing Russian-Speaking Women in London," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(4), pages 122-134, December.
    4. John Roberts, 2001. "Dialogue, Positionality and the Legal Framing of Ethnographic Research," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 5(4), pages 37-50, February.
    5. Ana Caetano, 2017. "Reflexive Dialogues: Interaction and Writing as External Components of Personal Reflexivity," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(4), pages 66-86, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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