Researching Ethnicity, Identity, Subjectivity: Anything but the Four Lettered Word

Elizabeth Pilar Challinor (1)

1 Centre for Research in Anthropology

The article gives a frank account of how anthropological research on Cape Verdean migrant experiences of parenthood in Portugal developed from avoiding the use of the analytical concept of 'race' to encountering 'race' as a category of practice in fieldwork and discusses the implications of this for analyzing the data. Although the aim of the research was to look beyond categorizations, to explore the emotional dimensions of lived experience, the effects of 'racial automatisms' upon migrant subjectivities cannot be ignored. Racist effects are nonetheless distinguished from racist intentions. The ethnography elucidates the political potential of 'race' to foment critical reflection upon the relationship between an individual's personal and collective identities.

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Elizabeth Pilar Challinor. Researching Ethnicity, Identity, Subjectivity: Anything but the Four Lettered Word. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2011, PP (PP), pp.1. ⟨10.1080/01419870.2011.593641⟩. ⟨hal-00721225⟩