Positionality and participatory ethics in the Global South: critical reflections on and lessons learned from fieldwork failure

IF 0.7 Q3 GEOGRAPHY Journal of Cultural Geography Pub Date : 2020-05-19 DOI:10.1080/08873631.2020.1760020
Jordan P. Brasher
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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.
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全球南方的定位和参与伦理:对实地调查失败的批判性反思和经验教训
本文是对全球南方的立场性、参与性伦理和实地考察失败的批判性反思。它认为,我们的学术理论与该领域的社会政治现实的碰撞不能与我们是谁以及我们认为作为研究人员可以做什么分开,而且往往包括我们。它探讨了我作为一名来自美国的白人男性博士生,在巴西圣保罗内陆的田野调查中,对自己的地位的理解是如何受到挑战的。在一年一度的南方节(Festa Confederada)上,我探讨了在具有相互竞争的政治利益和意识形态的不同人群中协商我的立场的困难。南方节是一个庆祝美国南方遗产和文化的节日。我批判性地反思,我未能与黑人运动(Movimento Negro,黑人运动)当地分会和邦联音乐节组织者就我身份的各个轴心进行谈判,这揭示了黑人运动内部的政治意识形态差异,并导致我被禁止在年度音乐节上进行研究。为了尽可能透明和自我批评,本文还探讨了来自全球北方的其他研究人员在进入该领域之前应该注意的宝贵且有时令人尴尬的经验教训。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.70
自引率
22.20%
发文量
15
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.
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