Partial Interpretations: Reflexive Revisiting as a Cultural Studies Methodology

Abstract

In this article, I argue for a renewed engagement with the practice of revisiting in cultural studies, as a way of staying with the particularities, indeterminacies and troubles that fieldwork encounters propose. Reflecting on my research alongside internally displaced women in Colombia, the article shows how returning to one’s previous engagements can put into question former interpretations while serving as an analytical strategy to fully grasp the multiplicity of determinations that concretize fieldwork encounters. Moreover, the article offers an approach to what I call the 'reflexive revisit,' as a mode of critically engaging with our former work and writing, which slows down analysis and conceptualization in a reflexive manner. By suggesting a return to one's work and writing as a way to disentangle information from preceding perspectives and find new resonances, this paper offers a novel way of engaging with the textures proper to fieldwork, "without guarantees".