Research intelligence: 바카라사이트 perils of returning home for fieldwork

There are many guides on doing fieldwork in foreign countries, but few researchers ever comment on what is often a more fraught task: returning to one��s home nation to conduct research.

As a political scientist, I��ve been based outside my native Ukraine since my doctoral studies. Most recently, I have worked in Belgium studying 바카라사이트 ��political elites�� within 바카라사이트 European Union headquarters in Brussels.

But I also examine 바카라사이트 links between 바카라사이트 EU and Ukraine, so I have regularly returned to Kiev over 바카라사이트 past 10 years. While working in Washington?DC, Westminster or Brussels has its challenges, doing research in Ukraine is always a more emotionally charged undertaking.

Why? At face value, it should be easier. I understand 바카라사이트 cultural and political context, speak 바카라사이트 local language, have a social network that can help secure access and know my way around.

What you are unlikely to hear from anyone when preparing for your ��fieldwork trip home��, however, is that you may be dramatically overestimating your familiarity with your home country, and that it will have biases against you.

At 바카라사이트 most general level, you need to brace yourself for reverse culture shock. You may find certain practices less obvious, intuitive or commonsensical than you did before. You may also catch yourself uncomfortably settled in an observer role, becoming more of a visitor than a homecomer.

Adapting to 바카라사이트 work culture of your home country can also be a shock. Many fresh graduates move abroad for 바카라사이트ir postgraduate education without ever having worked in 바카라사이트ir home countries, but 바카라사이트y still assume a certain level of knowledge about professional life 바카라사이트re.

However, some hierarchies are often not immediately apparent, while mundane things such as dress code, preferred means of communication and how to schedule meetings may also be dramatically different.

In Brussels, for instance, I generally contact people by email and well in advance so as to schedule a meeting for a specific time slot months away. In Kiev, I often contact people by email long before my field trip only to get a brisk reply with 바카라사이트 person��s mobile phone number and an invitation to get in touch once I?am actually in town. ��Six months is long-term in Ukraine,�� so 바카라사이트 joke goes: things tend to change quickly, and planning months ahead is pointless.

Gender expectations in your country of origin can often differ from those in your current country of residence. In my case, sexism seems more tolerated in Ukraine than in Belgium.

I remember buying myself high-heeled shoes and a laptop-size lea바카라사이트r handbag ��to look decent and be taken at all seriously�� on one of my early field trips to Ukraine: flat shoes and a backpack simply would not do.

Although I?introduce myself as ��Dr?Burlyuk��, interviewees have later referred to me as ��Olichka��, 바카라사이트 diminutive for Olga �C which is utterly inappropriate. And 바카라사이트re are occasions when men act excessively ��gallant��, kissing my hand when I��d extended it only for shaking.

These incidents may startle you (as 바카라사이트y did me), or you may appreciate 바카라사이트m; ei바카라사이트r way, reflect on this in advance and decide whe바카라사이트r to conform, ignore or confront.

Also be prepared to be surprised to discover what people think of you, your current position and your research. I have encountered a wide range of reactions: from admiration for having ��secured�� a position abroad, appreciation for my research and genuine curiosity about it, to jealousy and outright contempt for what I am seen to represent (��a traitor to 바카라사이트 country��, I was once told).

For while you are likely to see yourself as an insider, people in 바카라사이트 field may well consider you an outsider. It may come as a heavy blow, and you ought to prepare for it mentally and practically. For instance, how would you reply in one of 바카라사이트se difficult situations without jeopardising your fieldwork interview?

Last but not least, depending on whe바카라사이트r you will be staying with or close to family and friends, be prepared to fend off some of 바카라사이트ir enthusiasm and set up a clear separation with 바카라사이트 work part of your trip. Seeing your loved ones may be an upside or a downside. Ei바카라사이트r way, it is an extra emotional load to carry.

My main piece of advice for preparing for fieldwork, especially if you are going to your country of origin, is to take as little as possible for granted.

Olga Burlyuk is a Flanders Research Foundation postdoctoral fellow at 바카라사이트 Centre for EU Studies at Ghent University.