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A Spy, a Shill, a Go-Between1, or a Sociologist: Unveiling the ‘Observer’ in Participant Observer

San JosÈ State Universitysumurray{at}email.sjsu.edu

Based on data gathered from two field research projects, the author examines two key questions that underlie her process of becoming a sociologist: (1) How did I negotiate my multiple identities in the field, and (2) What am I really, ‘a spy, a shill, a go-between’ or a sociologist? Drawing from Goffman’s dramaturgical model, the author contends that much of the process of becoming a sociologist occurs within the shifting front and back regions in the field. Through a systematic examination of her ‘personal’ and ‘methodological’ field notes, the author captures these shifts from front to back and back to front, and attempts to elucidate the moral, ethical, and professional decisions that must be traversed along the way. Her aim, in other words, is to show how the identity negotiations that characterize ‘doing fieldwork’ are a key element of the process of becoming a (moral and ethical) sociologist.

Key Words: back stage • dramaturgy • ethics • field research • front stage • identity

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