Researching one's own community during the COVID19 pandemic: advantages and challenges of doing remote fieldwork in India

The impact of COVID-19 on field-based research has been much spoken about. Many of us have had to adapt, use new methods and techniques to carry on with our research work. This piece describes some of our experiences of carrying out primary research in Guwahati, Assam in India, during August-November in 2020. Our research has shown that studying one’s own community has its peculiar advantages, particularly during COVID-19, when there are restrictions on mobility. It has become important to explore research subjects and sites that may otherwise seem mundane and already known during this period, writes Rituparna Patgiri and Ritwika Patgiri.