L A HISPANIDAD DE LOS “ MORENOS ”

The database of the research is constituted by recorded interviews; notes of the discussions at the home group; and field notes from social and church activities and informal meetings. The focus, as afore mentioned, was on talk. Consequently, the analysis considered the broad narratives of research participants that constructed their view of

‘being a Christian’. All interviews were transcribed fully and analysed through coding manually, whilst key interviews were analysed through NVivo software. The initial analysis identified emic categories, “indigenous cultural categories” (Hammersley and Atkinson 2007, p. 194), such as ‘serving’, ‘spiritual gifts’, and ‘countercultural’. The perspective of research participants was then reconceptualised through the etic categories of the researcher (Fetterman 1998, p. 11). These etic categories sought to discern patterns and avoid normativity, as mentioned previously. The development of the Simmelian theoretical framework systematised further these categories. As I progressed with the theoretical framework, the coding through NVivo became redundant and unhelpful. The software could not facilitate analysis across emic and etic categories. Further, the software, whilst helpful in storing and retrieving data, carried the risk of fragmenting the data, which

106 become ‘decontextualised’ from their source to be then ‘recontextualised’ into analytical categories (Hammersley and Atkinson 2007, pp. 155-156).

It is important to recognise that “the process of analysis is intrinsic to all stages of ethnographic research” (Davies 1999, p. 193). Ethnographic research, therefore, needs to have “a characteristic ‘funnel’ structure, being progressively focused over its course”

(Hammersley and Atkinson 2007, p. 160). Efforts were, thus, made to ensure an open mind for alternative interpretations and conceptualisations. I was conscious of the importance of scrutinising the data systematically so as to identify any “discrepant data” (Maxwell 1996, pp. 90-93) and assess whether the analysis needed to be reviewed. Thus, I arranged the interview with Selina because I had the impression she was quite distinctive from the rest of the group. Selina’s sensibility is closer to Pentecostalism, which has a focus on experiential worshiping and a more conservative theology.

The texts of the interviews were analysed as narratives (Riessman 1993; Cortazzi 1993).

Narratives are ways of structuring one’s meaning, of giving sense and order to how one understands oneself. The researcher interpreting a narrative asks “why was the story told that way?” (Riessman 1993, p. 2, emphasis in the original). This includes how a narrative is organised and what emerges as the focal point. Informants in answering questions attempt to provide a coherent and persuasive account, not one that may appear illogical or meaningless. As “meaning-making structures, narratives must be preserved, not fractured by investigators” (Riessman 1993, p. 4). The texts were analysed using contrasts resulting

107 from the oppositions presented by informants between, for example, ‘religion’ and ‘being a Christian’.

The analytical approach was abductive (Santaella 2005). Accordingly, a general pattern is drawn out from the observation of a case study. Abduction is, in Peirce terminology, a

‘guess’, a logical and, yet, intuitive reasoning which suggests a different understanding of the reality under observation. In the case study, the observation of Bethlehem called into questions concepts of social capital, belief and belonging, and prompted the development of a better understanding of the reality being studied. Abduction is an inference that calls for the construct of a new type. Abductive inference is “an attitude towards data and towards one’s own knowledge: data are to be taken seriously, and the validity of previously developed knowledge is to be queried” (Reichertz 2004, p. 163). As such, abduction results in “mental constructs” (Reichertz 2004, p. 163, emphasis in the original) whose ‘validity’

lies in functionality. The constructs, at which one arrives through abduction, need to be judged according to their helpfulness in explaining a phenomenon or aspects of a phenomenon. In this thesis, the abductive inferencing challenged pre-constituted concepts of religion, belief, individuality and relationality.

7.1 Writing

Another component of the analytical process is writing. The need for coherence in communicating research findings inevitably raises questions of representation (Hammersley and Atkinson 2007, pp. 203-205). Scholars have experimented with a variety

108 of writing forms to overcome the ‘crisis of representation’, the questions over the authority of the researcher in interpreting the culture of participants. The present study being concerned with theoretical development sought to be faithful to local meanings whilst transposing them onto an abstract framework. The ‘translation’ from a theological discourse to a sociological perspective, as mentioned, might be contested as reductive.

However, the claim made here is of providing a sociological perspective that helps the understanding of an aspect of the local culture precisely by severing it from its theological framework.

The writing form sought to balance the requirements of systematic theory with the portrayal of a culture. Ethnographic writing entails the use of evocative language to present a vivid portrait of the observed culture. Thus, chapter eight begins with an ethnographic account of the origins of Bethlehem in a narrative style to be more engaging. The account derives from the interviews of informants. The only factual data altered are the names and location to maintain confidentiality. The choice of a narrative style was in an attempt at conveying the atmosphere and culture of Bethlehem church. However, the subsequent extracts are primarily from interviews and serve the purpose to illustrate theoretical concepts, rather than provide an ethnographic description of the local culture. Some interview responses are reported in their full length to avoid a misappropriation of the data to serve the theory and to avoid the breaking up of more emotional accounts.

The names of the informants have been changed with the names from the characters of George Eliot’s novels. This was partly due to George Eliot being one of my favourite

109 authors, but also an author showing a strong religious sensibility. Eliot translated Feuerbach’s The Essence of Christianity (1841/1989). Like Simmel, she was influenced deeply by his philosophy. Eliot’s novel Middlemarch (1872/2008) is infused with Feuerbach’s concept of religion as consciousness and feeling. For Feuerbach, human beings saw their nature outside of themselves before being able to find it inside of themselves.

Dorothea embodies that religious sense, which from evangelicalism turns into mysticism.

The use of Eliot’s characters is merely to conceal the identity of my informants and, perhaps, to evoke a sense of religious sentiment in approaching Bethlehem church. Thus, the names should not be taken as a reflection of any aspect of the participants’ personality.

A further note needs to be spent on Casaubon, who is a mostly fictional character in the thesis and is employed to link parts of dialogue from interviews or conversations.

Casaubon is also a device to avoid writing myself into the text. The presence of the researcher cannot be denied; yet explicit references to the thoughts and emotions of the researcher, whilst might be useful in a personal journal, do not serve the purpose of representing the reality of the field, rather they risk being a self-indulgent narcissistic exercise (Delamont 2009). Finally, writing often allows a process of discovery of what was not apparent during the observation. It helps connecting the fragments and seeing the patterns through a theoretical systematisation. The account of a small group of Christian evangelicals aims at capturing patterns of identity formation. The research was limited to a small group in one single church, at a specific time and place, and within a specific geopolitical culture. However, ethnographies do not aim to provide ‘generalisable’ findings, but a plausible account of a culture (Creswell and Miller 2000). The objective of the study

110 was to develop concepts that may aid the study of religious identity and possibly be extended to identity formation in other contexts.

8. Ethics

The ethical obligations of research include avoiding deception, asking for the permission to record, and being honest about the intended use of the research (Rubin and Rubin 1995, p.

94). Participants were informed of the aims of the research and of my personal background when I was introduced to the church during a Sunday service. This included my religious background and political role of elected councillor. During the entire project, there was no perceived or actual conflict of interest arising from my political role (Israel and Hersh 2006, p. 49). Consent was obtained for each interview by e-mail. Research participants at the home group were aware of my role as a researcher. However, a couple of new members joined later; thus it was difficult to know who was aware of the research at any given point.

It should be recognised that in “complex and mobile settings, it may simply be impractical to seek consent from everyone involved. Unlike experimental researcher, ethnographers typically have limited control over who enters their field of observation” (Murphy and Dingwall 2001, p. 342).

During the interviews, informants were open in sharing personal reflections and anecdotes from their lives whilst being recorded. However, as the relationship with some key

111 informants developed into friendship, I began to question what I could include as data without breaching confidence. I left out what I considered confidential, notwithstanding the fact that informants had volunteered very personal information about their lives during recorded interviews. I felt that leaving out personal information was necessary to live up to the trust that informants had in me, which made the research possible in the first place.

After all, informants did not know how I would use and present the data.

Finally, researchers have a duty to guarantee that information about participants will be used in such a way as to make “impossible for other persons to identify the participants or for any institution to use them against the interest of the participant” (Flick 2006, p. 49).

Research participants were asked for consent for observation and interviews through the elders and individually. It was made clear that every effort was made to maintain confidentiality and anonymity. It should also be recognised that research findings can be reinterpreted and misconstrued once out in the public domain (Lee-Treweek and Linkogle 2000, p. 18). Nevertheless, confidentiality and anonymity cannot be guaranteed under all circumstances.

Research participants do not always appreciate that their reserve is needed for anonymity to be maintained. This became apparent when I was contacted to present a talk on my research and the person making the invitation named the church of my case study. My most absolute denials were to no avail given that the information came directly from the former pastor. Most importantly, “participants and informants will remain identifiable to themselves” (Murphy and Dingwall 2001, p. 341). This posed an ethical question for the

112 present research once completed. The variance in interpretation of salvation had the potential to create divisions once the participants read the account. Therefore, I contacted Nicholas and agreed to discuss it with the new pastor to make him aware of the situation. I also contacted one of the research participants to discuss the matter more in detail.

9. Conclusion

The chapter presented the research design, methodology and research methods employed in this study. A fundamental question arising from the study of religion involves the risk of essentialising religious forms, of validating their ethical stance, but also of taking a reductionist approach to the study of religion. The theoretical framework aims to avoid these problems by stressing the concept of authenticity as a malleable and cultural vehicle for people’s understanding of truth. I argued that an appreciation of the insider’s culture is at the core of the ethnographic endeavour. However, it is important to remain critical of the accounts of participants and to focus on the social dynamics of religious life, rather than the

‘numinous’. Empathy with participants or personal experience of the divine might aid in the representation of religious life through plausible descriptions (Davidman 2002;

McCarthy Brown 2002; A. Geertz 2002); yet the focus of sociological research are human beings, not God. This does not exclude the study of religious experience (Neitz and Spickard 1990; Spickard 1991) or imply a reductionist interpretation of it.

113 The purpose of sociological knowledge is not to ‘explain away’ religion, but to interpret an aspect of social life. Thus, one’s identity also plays an important role in seeing and interpreting social life. The methodology of the research included Verstehen through the epistemological tool of self-reflection. Verstehen, however, should not be misunderstood as empathic understanding of another’s point of view. Indeed, empathic understanding can lead sociologists to give participants a voice without analysing it through sociological lenses. The ‘original’ Verstehen required the development of theoretical constructs, through which to understand others. Thus, self-reflection becomes an analytical and explanatory tool to discern how identity is played out in the field by research participants as well as by the ethnographer. It uncovers the unspoken rules of behaviour and the assumptions underlying practices and narratives.

The ethnographic researcher thus plays the roles of stranger and neighbour; ‘hides and seeks’ to grasp a very slippery reality; ‘moves in’ to appreciate the culture under observation, but also ‘moves out’ to reflect from another angle. This movement and reflection enables a better ‘understanding’, analytical inference and theoretical formulation. The present research does not endorse or provide a framework for the ethical assessment of local practices. This is not to reject the value of normative oriented projects employing action research, for instance. Embarking in sociological research cannot and should not lead one to profess neutrality. On the contrary, understanding of others and self-understanding can provide a useful reflection on ethics. Indeed, ethnographic research, with its strong focus on meaning-making and particularistic interpretations, can further our understanding of the complexity and sometimes conflictual nature of ethics.

114