Methodological Reflections on Ethnographic Research in Segregated Educational Contexts in Eastern Slovakia

Introduction (Context/Justification):
This conference contribution presents methodological reflections from ethnographic research in primary schools situated near segregated Roma settlements in Eastern Slovakia. Conducting fieldwork in environments shaped by structural inequality and extreme poverty brings specific challenges to qualitative inquiry. The focus is placed on the methodological and ethical dimensions of research, particularly on how ethnography can approach processes of inclusion and exclusion in schools while confronting the researcher with ethical dilemmas, power asymmetries, and questions of positionality.

Goals and Methods:
The aim is to explore the role of the researcher when studying vulnerable groups and children in segregated schools, and to reflect on how this role is negotiated in practice. The research is based on long-term participant observation, informal conversations, and the documentation of everyday school life. Methodological attention is directed to the dilemmas of positioning, the tensions between observing and intervening, and the ethical weight of witnessing exclusionary practices. Reflexivity is used as a key tool to address issues of mistrust, vulnerability, and unequal power relations in the field.

Results:
The reflections point to three main outcomes: first, that research with children in segregated schools requires continuous negotiation of trust and ethical responsibility; second, that documenting practices of exclusion situates the researcher in morally sensitive and sometimes ambivalent roles; and third, that ethnography offers possibilities for amplifying marginalized voices in contexts of deep inequality, shaped by segregation, and often disconnected from majority society.

Conclusions:
By emphasizing methodological and ethical dimensions rather than empirical results, this contribution seeks to foster debate on the role of ethnography in researching education in contexts of inequality and interethnic tension.