Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research

In this article I provide a reflexive account of my emotions both prior to and during fieldwork. I begin with a personal narrative that explores my motivations for conducting a study on a pertinent environmental issue – river pollution. My comparative ethnographic fieldwork in two different soc...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tajuddin, Nor Azlin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: World Anthropologies Network 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/1/NA_tajuddin.pdf
_version_ 1848781044164067328
author Tajuddin, Nor Azlin
author_facet Tajuddin, Nor Azlin
author_sort Tajuddin, Nor Azlin
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description In this article I provide a reflexive account of my emotions both prior to and during fieldwork. I begin with a personal narrative that explores my motivations for conducting a study on a pertinent environmental issue – river pollution. My comparative ethnographic fieldwork in two different socio-cultural and environmental settings, that of the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur and the Torrens River in Adelaide, yielded stories, pictures, and/or a spectrum of emotions about people’s interactions with the rivers, some of which resonated with my own. On the one hand, positive emotions during fieldwork were triggered, for example, when I observed colourful flora and fauna in certain section of the rivers. On the other hand, I experienced negative feelings when I observed floating rubbish and trash racks installed across the rivers. I describe these personal fieldwork experiences, alongside a discussion about my own reflections. Finally, and in light of my fieldwork experience, I briefly suggest implications for ethnographic research and methodological practice.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T15:43:18Z
format Article
id iium-35379
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T15:43:18Z
publishDate 2010
publisher World Anthropologies Network
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling iium-353792016-03-22T07:24:53Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/ Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research Tajuddin, Nor Azlin GN Anthropology In this article I provide a reflexive account of my emotions both prior to and during fieldwork. I begin with a personal narrative that explores my motivations for conducting a study on a pertinent environmental issue – river pollution. My comparative ethnographic fieldwork in two different socio-cultural and environmental settings, that of the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur and the Torrens River in Adelaide, yielded stories, pictures, and/or a spectrum of emotions about people’s interactions with the rivers, some of which resonated with my own. On the one hand, positive emotions during fieldwork were triggered, for example, when I observed colourful flora and fauna in certain section of the rivers. On the other hand, I experienced negative feelings when I observed floating rubbish and trash racks installed across the rivers. I describe these personal fieldwork experiences, alongside a discussion about my own reflections. Finally, and in light of my fieldwork experience, I briefly suggest implications for ethnographic research and methodological practice. World Anthropologies Network 2010 Article NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/1/NA_tajuddin.pdf Tajuddin, Nor Azlin (2010) Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research. World Anthropologies Network, 5. pp. 85-96. http://www.ram-wan.net/documents/05_e_Journal/journal-5/5-tajuddin.pdf
spellingShingle GN Anthropology
Tajuddin, Nor Azlin
Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
title Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
title_full Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
title_fullStr Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
title_full_unstemmed Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
title_short Reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
title_sort reflections on the flow of emotion in environmental research
topic GN Anthropology
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/35379/1/NA_tajuddin.pdf