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Women in Action Sport Cultures pp 45–68Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Surfing Together: Exploring the Potential of a Collaborative Ethnographic Moment

Part of the Global Culture and Sport Series book series (GCS)

Abstract

With ethnographic methods key for action sport researchers, many are approaching the field with pre-existing cultural participation, knowledge and relationships. The complexities of researching from an “insider” perspective have inspired debates amongst scholars about validity, reflexivity and power in action sports cultures, as well as in research methods. Addressing issues of reflexivity in subjective and analytical isolation is difficult. This chapter discusses a collaborative research ‘moment’ in which seven researchers took part in the same ethnographic field visit to a surfbreak. In an exploratory way, the project sought to explore the potential of collaborative approaches to fieldwork for accessing multiple geographical and subjective perspectives in the field. This chapter focuses on the ‘dynamic tensions’ that emerged through the research process, and how these were productive in revealing difficult to locate and invisible positionalities that may impact our capacity to make sense and meaning of our observations and experiences as participants, observers and researcher’s.

Keywords

  • Power Relation
  • Action Sport
  • Field Note
  • Blind Spot
  • Multiple Position

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Te Oranga, Faculty of Education, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Rebecca Olive, Holly Thorpe & Belinda Wheaton

  2. Independent Scholar, Whaingaroa, Raglan, Aotearoa, New Zealand

    Georgina Roy

  3. Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Mihi Nemani

  4. Kirikiriroa, Hamilton, Aotearoa, New Zealand

    lisahunter

  5. Buckinghamshire New University, Woodlands, UK

    Barbara Humberstone

Authors
  1. Rebecca Olive
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  2. Holly Thorpe
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  3. Georgina Roy
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  4. Mihi Nemani
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  5. lisahunter
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  6. Belinda Wheaton
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  7. Barbara Humberstone
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waikato, New Zealand

    Holly Thorpe

  2. University of Waikato, New Zealand

    Rebecca Olive

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Olive, R. et al. (2016). Surfing Together: Exploring the Potential of a Collaborative Ethnographic Moment. In: Thorpe, H., Olive, R. (eds) Women in Action Sport Cultures. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45797-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45797-4_3

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