My body on the field: reflections and challenges in the ethnographic work with immigrants in Italy

Abstract

This article has the objective to debate the challenges in the field faced by the researcher’s body, in this case, my body and all the challenges encountered during my ethnographic research in a well-defined context: Veronetta, a multiethnic neighborhood in the city of Verona (Italy). Issues such as gender and race, which permeate these challenges, have proved relevant to studies of this nature, such as access (or not) to certain places, circulation in the neighborhood, interpersonal relationships and, finally, the success of the research. The body of the researcher, an element often overlooked in research, is brought to debate as an important part of the epistemology, which implies restoring the corporeality of all scientific knowledge and doing.