Writing Emotions, Producing Knowledge: A Co-Writing Workshop on Emotional Reflexivity In Ethnographic Research

What happens to emotions once fieldwork ends and writing begins? While emotions are increasingly recognised as integral to qualitative and ethnographic research, the role of writing in shaping and making sense of these emotions remains underexplored. Academic writing is often treated as a neutral medium for reporting findings. Yet writing also constitutes a second encounter with the field, where experiences are revisited, relationships with participants are reinterpreted, and emotions are negotiated, amplified, or silenced. This interactive co-writing workshop explores writing as a site of emotional labor and reflexivity. Rather than approaching emotions as methodological noise or merely personal experiences, the workshop examines their potential contribution to interpretation, ethical judgement, and knowledge production. Particular attention will be devoted to the tensions researchers encounter when transforming emotionally charged field experiences into legitimate academic knowledge. Through guided writing exercises, peer feedback, and collective discussion, participants will reflect on how emotions become visible—or disappear—in scholarly texts, how writing mediates relationships between proximity and distance, and how emotional experiences can become analytically productive. The workshop is designed as a collaborative space of experimentation and reflexive inquiry rather than a conventional paper presentation session. The workshop welcomes researchers using qualitative, ethnographic, and other interpretive methodologies, particularly early-career scholars interested in the emotional dimensions of research and knowledge production.
Applicants should submit a short biographical note outlining their current or recent qualitative research and a brief reflexive statement on the role of emotions in writing, analysing, or interpreting research material (max. 500 words).