Emotions as Qualitative Data: The Lived Experience of a Young Portuguese Researcher in Colombia

Abstract (English)

Emotions felt by researchers during fieldwork are often neglected when it comes to analyzing them as a potential source of data for research outcomes. This may be because they are perceived as signs of vulnerability and threats to data collection's supposed neutrality. Yet, as social sciences engage in methodologies that frequently require deep communication and empathy, emotions are inevitably present and can hold analytical value.
Since July 2024, I have conducted two field research trips to La Guajira (Northeastern Colombia) to work with Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, focusing on maternal health and birth experiences within decolonial and feminist perspectives. As a young, white, female Portuguese researcher conducting fieldwork in a rural and colonized context in Colombia, I frequently experienced contradictory emotions related to privilege (as an European in a vulnerable territory), insecurity (due to the presence of criminal groups in the area), solitude (stemming from cultural distance with local communities), physical adaptation (to the heat, local cuisine, and unsafe water), and doubt (about my own research skills, the relevance of my investigation, and the authenticity of the relationships I was forming). These reflections directly concern my positionality in the field and the power dynamics embedded in the research context. For a panel that invites critical reflection on the challenges faced by young female researchers — and how these challenges can contribute to more inclusive, ethical, and decolonial methodologies — this communication aims to explore how emotions can be mobilised as valuable data.
Specifically, I propose that emotions can generate two types of academic outcomes: (1) autonomous reflections on ethnographic practice, particularly regarding methodological possibilities and limitations; and (2) empirical contributions to the research itself, since most of these emotions arise from relationships with local participants and reflect broader cultural and social dynamics of the field context.
This reflection is based on my emotional experiences during fieldwork, drawing on personal notes from field diaries and voice messages sent to peers in my original country . I argue that these private and emotional records can — and should — be considered valid and meaningful data in the social sciences.