Reflections on critical research in the Brazilian accounting field: an autobiographic note

Objective: This paper aims to present a reflection on critical research in the Brazilian accounting field based on an autobiographic narrative of the processes that contributed to the development of my habitus as a critical researcher. Method: Based on the theoretical concepts of habitus and scientific field, I develop an autobiographic narrative of my academic trajectory, during which I have sought to develop a critical research agenda in the Brazilian accounting field. Results: I argue that epistemological rejection to objectivism and axiological commitment with some notion of social justice are the characteristics that define critical research. Furthermore, I point out surveillance mechanisms that, in my opinion, contribute to maintaining the hegemony of the mainstream in the Brazilian accounting field: a tacit agreement through which interpretive and critical approaches are restricted to peripheral subjects in the field; a discourse that associates the use of quantitative methods to the competence of researchers and qualitative methods to the incompetence of researchers; and the possibility of converting symbolic capital, accumulated in the form of prestige in the academic field, into economic capital, obtained through consulting activities. I also discuss some weaknesses I identify in the incipient community of critical researchers, such as unwillingness to confront the mainstream, low receptivity to criticism toward itself, and no previous contact with the theoretical framework commonly adopted in critical research. Contributions: In addition to discussing the assumptions that characterize critical research in the accounting field, this paper contributes to a greater understanding of the functioning of the community of critical researchers in the Brazilian accounting field and lists the challenges this community faces to establish its relevance in the Brazilian academic milieu. Methodologically, this paper advances in the adoption of autobiographies in Brazilian accounting research.