Fieldwork narratives: An approach to the perception of a social researcher working with the community in the region of Magdalena Center (Cundinamarca)

Abstract

In most cases, the perception of a social researcher when performing fieldwork is not described in the final results of the investigation however, it is a rich source of information that allows us to identify happy moments, sorrows, satisfactions and misunderstandings generated in the experience of working with communities. Therefore, this perception is a key contribution for other workers to distinguish and recognize their own experiences. For this reason, this article aims to narrate the experiences of a field researcher: how his relationship was with the context, the actors involved in his research, and events that, in his opinion, were relevant. The data presented in the results were collected from the field journal elaborated by the author throughout his work in the province of Magdalena Center (Cundinamarca, Colombia). Accordingly, the narrative describes how the researcher is affected by contexts and subjects he interacts with and it allows us to understand that there is no fragmentation between the subject and object of research in social investigations, but there is an ongoing dialogue between them that promotes a deeper understanding of the studied phenomena.