Repository logo
 

Transcending objectivism, subjectivism, and the knowledge in-between: The subject in/of 'strong reflexivity'

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Hamati-Ataya, Inanna  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3735-8834

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThis article addresses thejats:italicproblématique</jats:italic>of the subject and the subject-object dichotomy from a post-objectivist, reflexivist perspective informed by a ‘strong’ version of reflexivity. It clarifies the rationale and epistemic-ontological requirements of strong reflexivity comparatively, through a discussion of autoethnography and autobiography, taken as representatives of other variants of reflexive scholarship. By deconstructing the ontological, epistemic, and reflexive statuses of the subject in the auto-ethnographic and auto-biographical variants, the article shows that the move from objectivism to post-objectivism can entail different reconfigurations of the subject-object relation, some of which can lead to subjectivism or an implicit positivist view of the subject. Strong reflexivity provides a coherent and empowering critique of objectivism because it consistently turns the ontological fact of the social situatedness of knowledge into an epistemic principle of social-scientific research, thereby providing reflexivist scholars with a critique of objectivism from within that allows them to reclaim the philosophical, social, and ethical dimensions of objectivity rather than surrender them to the dominant neopositivist tradition.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

4407 Policy and Administration, 4408 Political Science, 44 Human Society

Journal Title

Review of International Studies

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0260-2105
1469-9044

Volume Title

40

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)