Field Research in Africa: The Ethics of Researcher Vulnerabilities

This book is a comprehensive exploration of and guide to research ethics in the field of Africa. It recognizes the challenges researchers face, such as balancing data collection with emotional demands, navigating sensitive topics, and managing personal relationships. It provides insights and strategies for tackling these challenges and ensuring ethical and effective research practices.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 18 June 2021
Publisher: James Currey

Here is the rephrased text:

A comprehensive examination and practical guide to research ethics in the African context. Researchers in Africa navigate a complex web of ethical, methodological, logistical, emotional, and professional considerations. Balancing the roles of a researcher and a human being, scholars must reconcile the act of data collection with the emotional toll of listening, analyzing, and reporting personal and often conflicting narratives. This book acknowledges these challenges and delves into the intricate process by which researchers grapple with emotions, recognizing how these feelings inform and shape data collection, interpretation, writing, and dissemination. Drawing from extensive fieldwork, the contributors shed light on the ambiguities and inconsistencies that arise at every stage of fieldwork and offer strategies for navigating them. They explore the ethical dilemmas that arise when conducting research on sensitive topics in one's own living environment, proposing approaches to manage the intricate interplay between the researcher's identity and social relationships in the field. Additionally, they address the challenges of navigating the role of a researcher when activism poses risks to access and provide valuable insights into the complexities of conducting research in Africa.

Weight: 302g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781847012692