2024-2025 Grant in Aid of Research
An Auto-Ethnographic Exploration of a Novice Cross-Cultural Researcher's Experience
through a Community Mapping Project in Petra, Jordan.
Soojung Jo
This study will use an auto-ethnographic approach to explore the experiences of novice researchers participating in a multicultural community mapping project in Petra, Jordan. As an outsider entering a new cultural context, the researcher will document the strategies used and the difficulties encountered in attempting to understand the local culture and community. Through participant observation while participating in a month-long mapping project, researchers will record the insights, confusion, successes, and failures experienced in cultural adaptation and building relationships with community members.
The researcher will also conduct interviews with local residents (where possible)to gain perspectives on conducting research in the community as a multicultural outsider. This will provide a more holistic understanding of multicultural research from both the researcher's reflection and the perspective of the research subjects. Special attention will be paid to obstacles arising from cultural differences, language barriers, building trust and rapport, and the researcher's own assumptions and biases. By producing these autoethnographic materials through the lens of the experiences of novice multicultural researchers, this study aims to draw practical lessons to strengthen cultural competency and improve multicultural fieldwork practices. The findings may contribute to better preparation of students and early-career scholars undertaking cross-cultural research projects.