Affective Practice in Language and Sexuality Research Methodologies at North/South Intersections: Narrative, Dissonance, and Reflexivity

In this chapter I explore the notion of affective practice in language and sexuality research at intersections of the North and South from a methodological perspective. The focus is on a narrative inquiry conducted in Cambodia which sought to make sense of a sexualized social practice in this setting. Knowledges informing this practice emerged from interviews and observations in the field, from which a narrative was constructed of globally mobile visitors from the Global North who find intimacy with local men through the provision of economic support. This inquiry generated rich empirical data, demonstrating how affective linguistic resources are mobilized towards actions that initiate, sustain and justify this intimacy. However, the inquiry also revealed how powerful circulations of affect in this context significantly shaped methodological considerations during the research trajectory. Through a reflexive analysis of field journal extracts, I therefore examine entextualizations of affect, in terms of the affective relationalities constructed between researcher and researched, rendering these encounters narratively and personally legible. As such, this consideration of affective relationalities speaks to the entanglements of knowledges, or multiple ways of seeing, that may speak back to dominant discourses concerning “Southern” sexualities and sexualized practices.