1 Cultural-affective bonds in field-research: Towards a semiotic-constructivist understanding of circus daily life ________________________________________________________ SUARA BASTOS Institute of Psychology‐University of São Paulo‐USP, Brazil. DANILO SILVA GUIMARÃES Institute of Psychology‐University of São Paulo‐USP, Brazil. This paper is about the inherent tensions in the self‐other relationships that emerge from approximations and estrangements imposed by field research situations. This matter is discussed in terms of the affective bonds between researcher and participants, and in relation to the personal involvement of the researcher with the object of study. The investigation is based on the dialogical perspective of the semiotic‐cultural constructivism, incorporating recent reflections concerning the notion of perspective and dialogical multiplication. We forwarded the development of a research project concerning meaning construction on the topic of daily life in the circus. The interest in this subject arose from previous personal experience of the first author of this study. We sought to a) identify descriptive elements of everyday life in the circus b) the moments of tension that emerge in the self‐other relationships and c) the dialogical position that emerge at the process of meaning construction. To this paper, we selected an analysis of a content registered in the field notebook about their first meeting that took place during the process of information gathering, preliminary to the research planned procedure. The selected report allowed us to reflect on the intersubjective and intrasubjective tensions we may encounter as we speak to others from different dialogical perspectives. Although cultural psychologists are often committed to their own cultural background, the multiple subtle ways such commitment interferes with his/her knowledge construction process remain unreflective. This paper deals with a fundamental question to theoretical and methodological research in the dialogical cultural psychology: the inherent tensions in the self‐other relationships emerging from approximations and estrangements imposed by field research situations. We will discuss this issue, both in terms of the affective bonds between the researcher and the participants, and in relation to the personal involvement of the researcher with the object of study. Between 2012 and 2013, we forwarded the development of a Master´s research project at the Institute of Psychology of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. This research concerned meaning constructions on the topic of daily life in the circus, looking especially into the self‐perspective of inhabitants of a particular circus in Brazil.