The Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Ethnography

This chapter explores the “thorny issue” of engaging in reflexivity in sensory ethnographies and autoethnographies, considering why reflexivity is so important. Drawing on the authors’ experiences of undertaking sensory ethnographic studies of sports and physical cultures, and of the British army, it considers the role of reflexivity in this research, and how it has played out in various research settings. To give a feel for the challenges confronting the authors as sociologists and sociological phenomenologists, throughout the chapter key points are illustrated with detailed, grounded examples to “show” how both have (jointly and individually) sought to engage in sustained reflexivity, particularly within those cultural and physical-cultural settings with which they are particularly familiar. Such settings have often generated experiences of intense sensory embodiment. The chapter portrays practical ways in which heightened reflexivity has been pursued, offering suggestions that might be useful to others contemplating sensory ethnographic research opportunities.