{"title":"Positionality and participatory ethics in the Global South: critical reflections on and lessons learned from fieldwork failure","authors":"Jordan P. Brasher","doi":"10.1080/08873631.2020.1760020","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This essay is a critical reflection on positionality, participatory ethics and fieldwork failure in the Global South. It argues that the collision of our academic theories with socio-political realities in the field cannot be separated from and often includes who we are and what we think we can do as researchers. It explores how my understandings of my positionality as a white, male doctoral student from the United States were challenged during my fieldwork in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil. I explore the difficulties of negotiating my positionality amongst different groups of people with competing political interests and ideologies at the annual Festa Confederada – a festival that celebrates US southern heritage and culture. I critically reflect on how my failure to negotiate the various axes of my identity with the local chapter of the Movimento Negro (Black Movement) and with the Confederate Festival’s organizers revealed political-ideological differences within the Movimento Negro and resulted in my being barred from conducting research at the annual festival. In an effort to be as transparent and self-critical as possible, this essay also explores valuable and sometimes embarrassing lessons learned that other researchers from the Global North should heed before entering the field.","PeriodicalId":45137,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cultural Geography","volume":"37 1","pages":"296 - 310"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2020-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/08873631.2020.1760020","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Cultural Geography","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2020.1760020","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
ABSTRACT This essay is a critical reflection on positionality, participatory ethics and fieldwork failure in the Global South. It argues that the collision of our academic theories with socio-political realities in the field cannot be separated from and often includes who we are and what we think we can do as researchers. It explores how my understandings of my positionality as a white, male doctoral student from the United States were challenged during my fieldwork in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil. I explore the difficulties of negotiating my positionality amongst different groups of people with competing political interests and ideologies at the annual Festa Confederada – a festival that celebrates US southern heritage and culture. I critically reflect on how my failure to negotiate the various axes of my identity with the local chapter of the Movimento Negro (Black Movement) and with the Confederate Festival’s organizers revealed political-ideological differences within the Movimento Negro and resulted in my being barred from conducting research at the annual festival. In an effort to be as transparent and self-critical as possible, this essay also explores valuable and sometimes embarrassing lessons learned that other researchers from the Global North should heed before entering the field.
期刊介绍:
Since 1979 this lively journal has provided an international forum for scholarly research devoted to the spatial aspects of human groups, their activities, associated landscapes, and other cultural phenomena. The journal features high quality articles that are written in an accessible style. With a suite of full-length research articles, interpretive essays, special thematic issues devoted to major topics of interest, and book reviews, the Journal of Cultural Geography remains an indispensable resource both within and beyond the academic community. The journal"s audience includes the well-read general public and specialists from geography, ethnic studies, history, historic preservation.