The ethnographer twice estranged? Methodological reflection on the embodied emotions within a Romani Pentecostal community

The aim of this text is to illustrate how embodied emotions surfacing during fieldwork can be used to inform how non-Romani social scientists understand the Romani religious lifeworlds. The authors analyse the way in which physical expressions of strong emotions are interpreted. In this specific case, similarities which the informants perceived with reference to the bodily reactions of the anthropologists led, in fact, to an intersubjective conviction that deep differences existed between the two sides. The authors argue that the ethnographer’s bodily reactions are, on the one hand, an instrument of anthropological insight into the Romani community under investigation. On the other hand, the ethnographer’s bodily reactions do invoke ethical, methodological, and interpersonal problems This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ .

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Publication Details

Journal
Romani Studies
Published
2025-12-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/rost.2025.3
Primary Topic
Romani and Gypsy Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

The ethnographer twice estranged? Methodological reflection on the embodied emotions within a Romani Pentecostal community

Maciej Witkowski, Ewa Nowicka
Romani Studies
Romani and Gypsy Studies
article

The ethnographer twice estranged? Methodological reflection on the embodied emotions within a Romani Pentecostal community

Maciej Witkowski, Ewa Nowicka
article en

Abstract

The aim of this text is to illustrate how embodied emotions surfacing during fieldwork can be used to inform how non-Romani social scientists understand the Romani religious lifeworlds. The authors analyse the way in which physical expressions of strong emotions are interpreted. In this specific case, similarities which the informants perceived with reference to the bodily reactions of the anthropologists led, in fact, to an intersubjective conviction that deep differences existed between the two sides. The authors argue that the ethnographer’s bodily reactions are, on the one hand, an instrument of anthropological insight into the Romani community under investigation. On the other hand, the ethnographer’s bodily reactions do invoke ethical, methodological, and interpersonal problems This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ .

Romani StudiesVol. 35(2)
Civitas University (PL), WSB University (PL)
Openalex Percentile: Top 43%
Romani and Gypsy Studies
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