Educational ethnographic research through collaborative and ethical reciprocity: crossing views on affective movements in schools and researchers

During the 2023-2024 academic year, two doctoral theses employing ethnographic approaches in education were presented within the same doctoral program at the University of Barcelona. The first thesis (Estalayo Bielsa, Citation2023) involved a two-year ethnographic study at a Barcelona secondary school, exploring how students' subjectivities develop through intra-active processes in which global and local forces intertwine and reconfigure materially. The second thesis (De Riba Mayoral, Citation2024) also employed a two-year ethnographic approach in a primary-secondary school setting, examining collaborative filmmaking in educational research through a post-qualitative methodology. Drawing on these studies and grounded in feminist new materialisms and relational ethics, this article examines the reciprocal relationship between schools and researchers through written reflections and dialogic interviews with both researchers and school management teams. Through meta-analysis, the article traces movements of affect, responsibility, and recognition that endure beyond fieldwork, proposing educational ethnography as a collaborative practice characterized by care and co-responsibility.