Negotiating complexities of trust and positionality: autoethnographic reflections on researching Syrian-Dutch communities

This paper reflects on the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting research within one’s own migrant community, focusing on trust, access, and positionality. Drawing on autoethnography, I examine my experiences as a Syrian researcher working with Syrian-Dutch participants. Many expressed hesitancy or avoided participating in research, rooted in past political trauma and ongoing concerns related to legal status and state surveillance. I use the concept of reciprocal positioning to describe the subtle, often unspoken processes through which participants assess and position in interaction with the researcher to estimate ideological affiliations. From this, I conceptualize what I term the matrix of assurances: an implicit, evolving set of negotiations in which participants seek reassurance about the researcher’s trustworthiness, typically in relation to safety, political alignment, and the safeguarding of personal information. Trust is gradually established as these concerns are addressed and alleviated. These reflections contribute to broader discussions on insider/outsider research, vulnerability, and ethical practice in politically sensitive fieldwork contexts. They encourage both insider and outsider researchers to critically reflect on their own positionality, consider how they may be perceived by potential participants, and attend to how such perceptions can influence trust-building and knowledge production.