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Working in a research area as an outisder - do any social science and humanities people have any experience?

5 replies

Asimova · 08/04/2024 15:07

I have name-changed just in case.

Over the last couple of years I've found myself accidentally developing a bit of a track record in a field which is quite new to me but tangentially related to work I've done before. Its a field which has a lot of 'lay' engagement, strong activism and people who straddle the academia/public worlds.

But I'm not an 'insider' in this field. I don't have any 'lived experience' of the things that are discussed in this field - in fact the things that really hold the field together. The field can be quite insular, protective and a little bit hostile.

Sorry I'm being a bit vague - I'm a bit concerned about outing as its a fairly small field in the UK.

To be a bit clearer, this is not the exact situation but here's an analogy:
I'm a white scholar having researched Polish migrants in the UK and published in race and ethnicity journals. I've accidentally started to develop a track record in Black and Caribbean studies but I'm white so I have no experience of racism and discrimination which are at the heart of journals, conferences, activism, popular publishing etc.

I'm just wondering if anyone in social sciences has a similar experience?

OP posts:
Lollypaloozy · 09/04/2024 21:17

OP, is it a mental health related field?

TheHouse · 09/04/2024 21:19

Mental health?? If you haven’t got a diagnosis you’re not getting in. 🤦‍♀️

Asimova · 10/04/2024 09:19

No, it's not mental health though I have heard terrible things about people being excluded from this field.

It's a field associated with physical characteristics so not something which is invisible or I can even claim to be keeping on the down-low. I mean people can see that I'm an outsider

OP posts:
Sizzlysausage · 10/04/2024 09:51

I don't know if this is quite the same but I research a particular form of disadvantage that I can't and don't remotely claim to suffer from or have experienced. So I am writing about a group of people, rather than as one of them. Is that at all the kind of thing you mean?

Asimova · 10/04/2024 13:35

Sizzlysausage · 10/04/2024 09:51

I don't know if this is quite the same but I research a particular form of disadvantage that I can't and don't remotely claim to suffer from or have experienced. So I am writing about a group of people, rather than as one of them. Is that at all the kind of thing you mean?

Yes, exactly this kind of thing.
How do you find it? Have you ever had any pushback?

OP posts:
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