Making Sense of (Humanitarian) Emotions in an Ethnography of Vulnerable Children: The Case of Bangkok Slum Children

This chapter illustrates the epistemological importance of the researcher's emotional reflexivity in ethnography conducted among vulnerable groups exposed to humanitarian interventions. I draw upon my research on the everyday experience and identity processes of children who live in the slums of Bangkok and who are supported, as disadvantaged 'slum children' (dek salam), by several local and international aid organizations. By means of ethnographic case studies, I shed light on the role of 'humanitarian emotions' in shaping affective interactions between compassionate social workers and victimized slum children. As I show, this emotional exchange responds to a broader set of cultural values, political-economic practices, and scientific discourses, including psychology. The chapter demonstrates how looking at the researcher's affects as epistemic data brings a deeper level of understanding to findings obtained during ethnography, especially in (but not limited to) humanitarian contexts.