sjsca

Special Issue

Vol. 31 No. 1 (2025): Reciprocal Vulnerability: Privilege, Violence, and Solidarity from Fieldwork to Academia

Ethnographic Intimacy: Navigating Friendships and Vulnerabilities in the Field

Submitted
October 2, 2023
Published
2025-11-13

Abstract

In recent decades, anthropologists have increasingly recognised the researcher’s vulnerability as an inherent and indispensable element of ethnographic field research. This article shares my ethnographic fieldwork experiences navigating the intricate relationships of a coliving facility in Ho Chi Minh City. I argue that emotional engagement within fieldwork relationships—embracing the dual role of researcher and friend—can yield unexpected insights. Nevertheless, there are inherent complexities in negotiating a network of relationships that demand a high degree of emotional resilience, especially for anthropologists conducting research “at home”. This article calls on researchers to recognise reciprocal vulnerability not as a weakness, but as an asset for arriving

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