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At Work with Practice Theory, ‘Failed’ Fieldwork, or How to See International Politics in An Empty Chair

At Work with Practice Theory, ‘Failed’ Fieldwork, or How to See International Politics in An... IR practice theorists advocate studying international relations through its manifold practices. On the question of methodology, they thus promote a simple slogan: start with practices! But how do we first capture an international practice? Surprisingly, this crucial question often remains abstract or hidden in methodological metaphors like ‘leaving the armchair’. Reflecting on a supposedly failed fieldwork experiment, I introduce two heuristics in this article on how to make this hidden work transparent. In particular, I argue that capturing practice happens through abductive movements between site, scrap, screen, and seminar work that is similarly enabled and constrained by practical, epistemic, professional, and political positionalities. Using this vocabulary will advance IR practice research in three ways: first, pedagogically, in transferring a more accurate impression of what the approach entails; second, normatively, in accounting for where our arguments come from; and third, epistemically, to avoid only seeing what we were looking for. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Millennium: Journal of International Studies SAGE

At Work with Practice Theory, ‘Failed’ Fieldwork, or How to See International Politics in An Empty Chair

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References (28)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021
ISSN
0305-8298
eISSN
1477-9021
DOI
10.1177/03058298211055217
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

IR practice theorists advocate studying international relations through its manifold practices. On the question of methodology, they thus promote a simple slogan: start with practices! But how do we first capture an international practice? Surprisingly, this crucial question often remains abstract or hidden in methodological metaphors like ‘leaving the armchair’. Reflecting on a supposedly failed fieldwork experiment, I introduce two heuristics in this article on how to make this hidden work transparent. In particular, I argue that capturing practice happens through abductive movements between site, scrap, screen, and seminar work that is similarly enabled and constrained by practical, epistemic, professional, and political positionalities. Using this vocabulary will advance IR practice research in three ways: first, pedagogically, in transferring a more accurate impression of what the approach entails; second, normatively, in accounting for where our arguments come from; and third, epistemically, to avoid only seeing what we were looking for.

Journal

Millennium: Journal of International Studies – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 2021

Keywords: practice theory; methodology; reflexivity; transparency; positionality; hidden work; théorie de la pratique; réflexivité; terrain; teoría de la práctica; reflexividad; trabajo de campo

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