Among political ecologists, long-term ethnographic immersion is one of the key approaches to conducting fieldwork. This article reflects on how a researcher’s identity enriches or complicates the immersed fieldwork process. Drawing on fieldwork in West Africa, it illuminates the challenges confronted when men conduct research into women’s experiences. It sheds specific light on effects on the data gathering process, the data gathered, and ethical concerns. Overall, the article suggests why political ecologists need to seriously consider issues around fieldworkers’ identity and the quality of fieldwork relations with research subjects. Central to the reflections here are issues concerning hermeneutic complexities, especially when research assistants are relied on to understand the everyday, embodied, and emotional aspects of nature–society relations. The article argues that although local-level social relations have long been part of political ecology research, the ability to undertake fieldwork itself is also shaped by researcher–researched social relations that are often less recognized. Although these reflections provide lessons for political ecology research more broadly, the insights here particularly seek to inform emerging work on “new” feminist political ecology, which tends to focus on data collection at less visible scales, particularly the body and the household.

中文翻译：

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身份如何丰富和复杂化研究过程：来自政治生态学实地考察的反思

在政治生态学家中，长期的民族志沉浸是进行田野调查的关键方法之一。本文反映了研究人员的身份如何丰富或复杂化沉浸式实地工作过程。借鉴西非的实地考察，它阐明了男性对女性经历进行研究时所面临的挑战。它具体阐明了对数据收集过程、收集的数据和道德问题的影响。总的来说，这篇文章提出了为什么政治生态学家需要认真考虑田野工作者的身份问题以及田野工作与研究对象关系的质量。这里思考的核心是关于解释学复杂性的问题，特别是当研究助理被依赖来理解日常的、具体化的、自然与社会关系的情感方面。文章认为，虽然地方层面的社会关系长期以来一直是政治生态学研究的一部分，但进行田野工作本身的能力也受到研究者研究的社会关系的影响，而这些社会关系往往不被认可。尽管这些反思为更广泛的政治生态学研究提供了经验教训，但这里的见解特别寻求为“新”女权主义政治生态学的新兴工作提供信息，这些工作往往侧重于不太明显的数据收集，尤其是身体和家庭。