Doing Similarity in a White-Women’s Network

Abstract

Having spent my first dinner party as a participant observer, or perhaps more correctly as an observant participant, in SWEA in southern California, I was clearly relieved when Silvia, one of the leading figures in the local network, officially acknowledged my ‘fitting perfectly’ in the group. After having spent weeks trying to get access to the network I was finally invited to the network’s local chapter, in the role of a researcher, for a traditional Swedish pea-soup (ärtsoppa) dinner. I felt that it was crucial to make a good impression. At that moment, this charismatic leading figure’s approval of me, or my persona, as someone who fitted into the group was also regarded as an approval of me as a researcher. As someone who ‘fitted perfectly’ I had succeeded, not only in being accepted as a participant (observer), but perhaps also as someone who was commendable. However, later on my sense of relief and success made me reflect on what fitting into this group actually meant, given that the group was characterized by white, upper-middle-class privileges. How did my ambition to fit in reproduce the power dynamics of race, class, and sexuality, rather than their deconstruction? What kind of knowledge could I produce from my ethnographic work with privileged groups?