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Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
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Becoming a Sadomasochist

Integrating Self and Other in Ethnographic Analysis

Staci Newmahr

Queens College -CUNY

Based on a four-year ethnographic study of an SM community, this article blends analytic and interpretative approaches to ethnographic writing, in order to illustrate the value of incorporating subjectivity into traditional ethnographic analysis. I juxtapose field notes about my own participation in SM with stories of outsiderness among members of the community. I argue that analytical attention to my own experience of "becoming" a member of this community illuminated for me some of the discursive, psychological, and carnal processes through which SM comes to be a central and fulfilling part of participants' lives. This elucidates the intellectual reciprocity between ethnographic introspection and ethnographic understanding, and offers additional insight into an understudied community.

Key Words: ethnography • sadomasochism • subjectivity • analytic ethnography • interpretive ethnography

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 37, No. 5, 619-643 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0891241607310626
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