Based on a case-study of the governance of health facilities in Niger, the paper examines how emotions can be used as a method to explore meaning-making activities in bureaucratic settings where public servants’ behaviours follow practical norms that deviate from both official norms and social norms. As a supplement to other techniques associated with long-term field research, the use of obtrusive participant-observation is arguably a relevant and fruitful methodological tactic. The author argues that giving space to the ethnographer’s empathy while doing participant-observation enables a deeper understanding of bureaucratic behaviours by bringing emotions back into the analysis of empirical findings and deepening reflexivity. Whereas the paper examines some ethical issues associated with this method in contexts where the ethnographer is confronted with abuse of power in health bureaucracies, the author suggests that emotions as method can be a fruitful approach to bureaucratic ethnography at large.

中文翻译：

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作为方法的情感：公共官僚机构中的突兀和参与观察

基于对尼日尔医疗机构治理的案例研究，本文研究了如何在官僚机构中利用情绪作为探索意义创造活动的方法，在这种情况下，公务员的行为遵循偏离官方规范和规范的实践规范。社会规范。作为与长期实地研究相关的其他技术的补充，使用突兀的参与者观察可以说是一种相关且富有成效的方法策略。作者认为，在进行参与者观察的同时为民族志学者的同理心提供空间，可以通过将情绪带回对实证结果的分析并加深反思性，从而更深入地了解官僚行为。