Researchers working in Africa are engaged in ethical, methodological, logistical, emotional and professional compromises. Juggling the demands of being a researcher and being human, scholars must balance the recording of data with the emotional demands of listening, of analyzing and reporting personal, and often contradictory, narratives. This book recognizes these challenges and lays bare the underlying and important process by which the researcher grapples with emotions, and how 'feelings' inform and shape data collection, interpretation, write-up and dissemination. Based on widely researched on-the-ground work, the contributors reveal the ambiguities and inconsistences that emerge at all stages of fieldwork and how to tackle them. They examine the ethical quagmires that arise when doing research on sensitive topics in a researcher's own living environment, and suggest how to manage the complex interaction between the researcher's own identity and social relationships in the field, and navigate the role of researcher when activism risks access to the field. AN ANSOMS is Professor in Development Studies at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (Belgium); AYMAR NYENYEZI BISOKA is Assistant Professor at the University of Mons, Belgium. SUSAN THOMSON is Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University.

Book Information
ISBN 9781847012692
Author An Ansoms
Format Paperback
Page Count 184
Imprint James Currey
Publisher James Currey
Weight(grams) 15g