Analyzing personal embodied experiences: Autoethnography, feelings, and fieldwork

Abstract

The embodied, emotional experiences of the participant-researcher during fieldwork can yield useful information on the social setting influencing interpreting practices when analyzed as part of ethnographic research designs. This paper presents examples of methods for collecting and analyzing somatic and affective field experiences, occurring during the simultaneous interpreting of church services, as well as the insights gained from the analysis of such experiences. The discussion is based on my autoethnographic PhD research on simultaneous interpreting in church.