Connecting Participant Observation Positions: Toward a Reflexive Framework for Studying Social Movements

In this article, we argue for the importance of considering participant
observation roles in relation to both insider/outsider and overt/covert
roles. Through combining key academic debates on participant observation,
which have separately considered insider/outsider and overt/covert
participant observation, we develop a reflexive framework to
assist researchers in (1) locating the type of participant observation
research; (2) identifying implications of participant observation for both
the research and the subjects under study; and (3) reflecting on how
one’s role as participant observer shifts over the course of fieldwork
and considering the implications of this. To illustrate these dynamics, we draw on two examples from our own ethnographic research experiences
in direct action anticapitalist movements.