Cultural intimacy, cultural distance: methodological aspects of anthropological research into Romanians in Poland

Abstract

This study focuses on a comparison of two sets of in-depth, face-to-face interviews among Romanians living in Poland about their perceptions of the country and society, and their migrant experiences. The interviews were conducted five years apart, using the same guide, but carried out by Polish interviewers in the first case, and by a Romanian interviewer in the second. Comparative analysis of the material gained in this process reveals that, despite similar content in interviewee responses, the standing of the interviewer was by no means neutral. Crucial for the volume, type, and nature of the collected data – as well as for its interpretation – is the interviewer’s identity. In this regard, the study draws on Michael’s Herzfeld’s concept of ‘cultural intimacy’ to explain the mutual reproduction of different levels of identity and to develop a framework for analyzing the interaction between the social scientists and their interlocutors.