Abstract:
This article explores some of the methodological and ethical issues intrinsic to the processes of carrying out ethnographic research in a very small country, when most participating individuals can be readily identified. The inherent conflicts will be applicable to research in any community where individual participants may be recognised. Internal confidentiality has the potential to place limits on ethical assurances. However, these limitations were more of a concern for outputs generated for an academic audience, than when the primary research output for a commercial book. We examine this paradox. The book we co-wrote is about a modest, familiar feature of everyday life in New Zealand: roadside pie carts, which have been selling cheap street food since the 1930s. While their menus have changed – most no longer sell pies, even though they are still called pie carts – the surviving food vendors are still important night-time food providers in many cities and small towns. We investigated their persistence in the face of social change and competition from the global fast-food giants. In collecting their stories, and addressing the place of nostalgia, narratives and memories in restating local vernacular culture, various methodological and ethics issues arose.
