The Loves of Others: Autoethnography and Reflexivity in Researching Distance Relationships

Mary Holmes

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.6.2.04

Authors

Mary Holmes Flinders University, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.6.2.04

Keywords:

Reflexivity, Autoethnography, Relationality, Distance relationships, Interviewing, Transcribing

Abstract

Reflexive accounts of research are important, but they should include attention to a wider range of relations than those between researcher and participant. The researcher’s position in relation to the participants does merit discussion, especially when there is an element of autoethnography involved. However, assistants in the research such as transcribers, can play a role in accounting for the research. The relationships participants have with loved ones also shape how they reflexively account for themselves and their experiences, in this case – of being in a distance relationship.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Mary Holmes, Flinders University, Australia

Mary Holmes is a Senior Lecturer in sociology at Flinders University in Australia. She has published various articles relating to her empirical work on distance relationships and to her other research interests in the sociology of the body and in social movements and emotions. She has recently published The Representation of Feminists as Political Actors (VDM, 2008) What is Gender? (Sage, 2008) and Gender in Everyday Life (Routledge, 2007).

References

Anderson, Leon (2006) "Analytic Autoethnography." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35(4):373-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241605280449

Archer, Margaret S. (2003) Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139087315

Bauman, Zygmunt (2003) Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Bawin-Legros, Bernadette and Anne Gauthier (2001) "Regulation of Intimacy and Love Semantics in Couples Living Apart Together." International Review of Sociology 11(1):39-46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03906700020030983

Beck, Ulrich (1992) Risk Society. London: Sage.

Beck, Ulrich and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (2002) Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage.

Beets, Gijs and Nico Van Nimwegen, N. (2000) "Population Issues in the Netherlands." Review of Populations and Social Policy 9:87-117.

Berger, Leigh (2001) "Narrative Autoethnography as a Path Toward Rapport." Qualitative Inquiry 7(4):504-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040100700407

Binstock, Georgina and Arland Thornton (2003) "Separations, Reconciliations and Living Apart in Cohabiting and Marital Unions." Journal of Marriage and the Family 65(2):432-443. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00432.x

Borrell, Klas and Sofie Ghazanfareeon Karlsson (2003) "Reconceptualizing Intimacy and Ageing: Living Apart Together." Pp.47-62 in Gender and Ageing: Changing Roles and Relationships, edited by S. Arber, K. Davidson, and J. Ginn. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1987) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.

Caradec, Vincent (1996) "Les Forms de la Vie Conjugale des "Jeunes" Couples "Âgés." Population 51(4-5):897-927. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1534359

Corbin, Juliet and Janice M. Morse (2003) "The Unstructured Interactive Interview: Issues of Reciprocity and Risks when Dealing with Sensitive Topics." Qualitative Inquiry 9(3):335-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800403009003001

Denzin, Norman K. (2006) "Analytic Autoethnography, or Déjà Vu All Over Again." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35(4):419-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241606286985

Denzin, Norman K. (1994) "The Art and Politics of Interpretatio". Pp. 500-515 in Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Edwards, Rosalind and Jane Ribbens (with Val Gillies) (1999) "Shifting Boundaries and Power in the Research Process: The Example of Researching ‘Step- Families." Pp. 13-42 in Relating Intimacies: Power and Resistance, edited by J. Seymour and P. Bagguley. Basingstoke: Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27683-7_2

Ellis, Carolyn S. and Arthur P. Bochner (2006) "Analyzing Analytic Autoethnography: An Autopsy." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35(4):429-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241606286979

Ferber, Marianne A. and Jane W. Loeb, editors (1997) Academic Couples: Problems and Promises. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Gerstel, Naomi R. and Harriet Gross (1984) Commuter Marriage: A Study of Work and Family. London: Guildford Press.

Giddens, Anthony (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Stanford, CA.: Stanford University Press.

Giddens, Anthony (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Palo Alto, CA.: Stanford University Press.

Gross, Neil (2005) "The Detraditionalization of Intimacy Reconsidered." Sociological Theory 23(3):286-311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0735-2751.2005.00255.x

Guldner, Gregory T. (2003) Long Distance Relationships: The Complete Guide. Corona, CA: J. F. Milne Publications.

Haskey, John (2005) "Living Arrangements in Contemporary Britain: Having a Partner Who Usually Lives Elsewhere and Living Apart Together (LAT)." Population Trends 122:35-45.

Hochschild, Arlie R. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Hochschild, Arlie R. and Barbara Ehrenreich, editors (2003) Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. London: Granta.

Holdsworth, C. and David Morgan (2007) "Revisiting the Generalized Other: An Exploration." Sociology 41(3):401-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038507076614

Holmes, Mary E. (2010) The emotionalization of reflexivity. Sociology 44(1):139-154 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038509351616

Kim, Song-Chul (2001) "Weekend Couples’ amongst Korean Professionals: An Ethnography on Living Apart on Weekdays." Korea Journal 41(4):28-47.

Levin, Irene (2004) "Living Apart Together: A New Family Form." Current Sociology 52(2):223-240. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392104041809

Mason, Jennifer (2004) "Personal Narrative, Relational Selves: Residential Histories in the Living and Telling." Sociological Review 52(2):162-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2004.00463.x

Mauthner, Natasha S. and Andrea Doucet (2003) "Reflexive Accounts and Accounts of Reflexivity in Qualitative Data Analysis." Sociology 37(3):413-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385030373002

Mead, George H. (1962) Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviourist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Milan, Anne and Alice Peters (2003) "Couples Living Apar", Canadian Social Trends, Statistics Canada – Catalogue No. 11-008, 2-6.

Minichiello, Victor, Rosalie Aroni, and Terence N. Hays (2008) In-Depth Interviewing: Principles, Techniques, Analysis. Sydney: Pearson Education.

Noy, Chaim (2008) "Sampling Knowledge: The Hermeneutics of Snowball Sampling in Qualitative Research." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 11(4):327-344. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645570701401305

Oakley, Ann (1981) "Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms." Pp. 30-61 in Doing Feminist Research, edited by H. Roberts. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Pollner, Melvin (1991) "Left of Ethnomethodology: The Rise and Decline of Radical Reflexivity." American Sociological Review 56(3):370-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2096110

Rindfuss, Ronald R. and Stephen, Elizabeth H. (1990) "Marital Noncohabitation: Separation Does Not Make the Heart Grow Fonder." Journal of Marriage and the Family 52:259-70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/352856

Roseneil, Sasha (2006) "On Not Living with a Partner: Unpicking Coupledom and Cohabitation." Sociological Research Online, 11(3) http://www.socresonline.org.uk/11/3/roseneil.html DOI: https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.1413

Roseneil, Sasha (1993) "Greenham Revisited: Researching Myself and My Sisters." Pp. 177-208 in Interpreting the Field edited by D. Hobbs and T. May. Oxford University Press.

Schvaneveldt, Paul L., Margaret H. Young, and Jay D. Schvaneveldt (2001) "Dualresident Marriages in Thailand: A Comparison of Two Cultural Groups of Women." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 32(3):347-360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.32.3.347

Seidman, Steven (1991) Romantic Longings: Love in America, 1830–1980. New York and London: Routledge.

Seymour, Julie, Gill Dix, and Tony Eardley (1995) Joint Accounts: Methodology and Practice in Research Interviews with Couples. Social Policy Research Unit: University of York.

van Enk, Anneke A.J. (2009) "The Shaping Effects of the Conversational Interview." Qualitative Inquiry 15(7):1265-1286. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800409338029

Waquant, Loic J. D. (1989) "Towards a Reflexive Sociology: A Workshop with Pierre Bourdieu." Sociological Theory 7(1):26-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/202061