(SILENT) VOICES
In this section you can find new publications that resulted from reflections within the (Silent) Voices initiative and other resources on collaborative knowledge production.
David Mwambari (2019) Local Positionality in the Production of Knowledge in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18
Abstract
This article examines the positionality of local stakeholders in the production of knowledge through fieldwork in qualitative research in Northern Uganda. While scholarly literature has evolved on the positionality and experiences of researchers from the Global North in (post)conflict environments, little is known about the positionality and experiences of local stakeholders in the production of knowledge. This article is based on interviews and focus groups with research assistants and respondents in Northern Uganda. Using a phenomenological approach, this article analyzes the positionality and experiences of these research associates and respondents during fieldwork. Three themes emerged from these interviews and are explored in this article: power, fatigue, and safety. This article emphasizes that researchers need to be reflexive in their practices and highlights the need to reexamine how researchers are trained in qualitative methods before going into the field. This article is further critical of the behavior of researchers and how research agendas impact local stakeholders during and after fieldwork
Anwar, Nausheen H. and Sarwat Viqar. 2017. “Research Assistants, Reflexivity and the Politics of Fieldwork in Urban Pakistan.” Area 49(1):114–21.
Zeleza. 2009. “African Studies and Universities since Independence.” Transition (101):110.
Bank, Andrew. 2011. “The ‘Intimate Politics’ of Fieldwork: Monica Hunter and Her African Assistants, Pondoland and the Eastern Cape, 1931–1932.” Inside African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and Her Interpreters 7070:67–94.
Bonnin, Christine. 2010. “Navigating Fieldwork Politics, Practicalities and Ethics in the Upland Borderlands of Northern Vietnam.” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 51(2):179–92.
Deane, Kevin and Sara Stevano. 2016. “Towards a Political Economy of the Use of Research Assistants: Reflections from Fieldwork in Tanzania and Mozambique.” Qualitative Research 16(2):213–28.
Fertaly, Kaitlin and Jennifer L. Fluri. 2019. “Research Associates and the Production of Knowledge in the Field.” Professional Geographer 71(1):75–82.
Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe. 2018. “Building Intellectual Bridges: From African Studies and African American Studies to Africana Studies in the United States.” Afrika Focus 24(2):9–31.
Gupta, Akhil. 2014. “Authorship, Research Assistants and the Ethnographic Field.” Ethnography 15(3):394–400.
Hoffman, Danny and Mohammed Tarawalley. 2014. “Frontline Collaborations: The Research Relationship in Unstable Places.” Ethnography 15(3):291–310.
Holmberg, David. 2014. “Ethnographic Agency, Field Assistants and the Rise of Cultural Activism in Nepal.” Ethnography 15(3):311–30.
Jenkins, Sarah Ann. 2018. “Assistants, Guides, Collaborators, Friends: The Concealed Figures of Conflict Research.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 47(2):143–70.
Michaud, Jean. 2010. “Research Note: Fieldwork, Supervision and Trust.” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 51(2):220–25.
Middleton, Townsend and Jason Cons. 2014. “Coming to Terms: Reinserting Research Assistants into Ethnography’s Past and Present.” Ethnography 15(3):279–90.
Molony, Thomas and Daniel Hammett. 2015. “The Friendly Financier: Talking Money with the Silenced Assistant.” Human Organization 66(3):292–300.
Pasquini, Margaret W. and Oluwashola Olaniyan. 2004. “The Researcher and the Field Assistant: A Cross-Disciplinary, Cross-Cultural Viewing of Positionality.” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 29(1):24–36.