the other scenes is to trigger a disinvestment on my part. At this stage in
the observation, the welcome I receive in the field scene appears to me as
both frank and fragile. I can see quite clearly that I am the only one bene-
fiting from my presence alongside the police officers. I could hardly have
done without them; they could have easily done without me. “In fieldwork
we expect much from members of the setting but have little to contribute”
(Fielding, 2006,p. 282). One of my constant concerns is thus to preserve
the quality of the relationships created with the observed actors. In the
field, I display a host of rather conciliatory attitudes, and while they convey
a possible lack of understanding about certain practices, they avert any
expression of confrontation. This choice of position thus enabled both sin-
cere and feigned attitudes. This first excerpt illustrates the discomfort I
encounter in the field. I feel vulnerable in my choice of position, I dread
not being able to control my “presentation of self” (Goffman, 1959), the
role that I have so far adopted toward the observed population in the con-
text of my integration strategy. It seems to me that my personality is fully
partaking in the development of these strategies.
The personal scene corresponds to my privacy, to those private
moments when I am alone, “just me, myself, and I.” This excerpt illus-
trates an “in-between” time, outside my house but not yet in the field; I
am getting ready to adopt the role of observer. I remind myself of the
guidelines, I cheer myself up, and I reassure myself. In the situation of
observation, the personal scene is fully invested and totally mobilized in
developing interaction strategies. Indeed, I know that effective integration
in the field requires not getting fully involved in the exchange with the tar-
get audience, not revealing all of one’s feelings to the target audience. This
“in-between” time covered in the excerpt is similar to what Goffman calls
a “back region,” a backstage area: “It is here that the capacity of a perfor-
mance to express something beyond itself may be painstakingly fabricated;
it is here that illusions and impressions are openly constructed” (Goffman,
1959 ,p. 112).
It is in contrast to a “front region” a “place where the performance is
given”(Goffman, 1959,p. 107), a place where a person interacts with other
individuals, concerned with the impression she gives to these others. The
main function of the personal scene is to be a “back region” for the other
scenes, the ultimate place of refuge, where I am performing only in front of
myself. However, each scene can at the same time be both a place of perfor-
mance and the backstage of another scene: I conduct the observation in the
field away from the eyes of my colleagues, I bring back to them only what I
deem is in my interest to relate; the professional scene is invested so as to
50 CAROLINE DE MAN