No more NVivo! Dealing with coding frustrations in a study of contemporary Cambodian dance

This paper offers a short reflection on the analytical practice of coding a large number of interviews as part of a long-term research project on the relationship between contemporary dance and national identity in Cambodia. It probes some of the assumptions that we make about 'coding' interviews and how we do it, particularly the idea of seemingly neat, sequential ordering of analytical steps, as well as when the moment of analysis occurs. Rather than present a conventional account of how coding works, I share instead some of my frustrations with the practice and how the difficult-and at times boring and overwhelming-work of coding affects how we understand its analytical possibilities. In so doing, I highlight that we should not assume that coding is easy or the obvious thing to do, regardless of the specificities and demands of our research projects.