Reconsidering research ethics in ethnographic research: bearing witness to ‘irreparable harm’
- Barker, Kim, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Barker, Kim , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143805 , vital:38284 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
- Description: Research with persons who have experienced trauma requires careful consideration. In preparing the ethics protocol for an ethnographic study of an anti-rape protest, we thought carefully about how the first author would manage ethical decisions in accordance with the University ethics code. However, this process did not prepare us for the dynamic and reciprocal positioning the first author encountered in the field. Nor was she prepared for her sense of the ethical duty of response when entrusted with the narratives of women who had suffered ‘irredeemable harm’. Drawing on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, and examples from the research, we show how ethical decision-making in ethnographic research is always relational and dialogical; extending beyond our direct interactions with participants to the ways in which we approach our ‘data’. We argue that ethics cannot be reduced to a cognitive-rational process and propose ways to acknowledge and draw on the ‘affective’ and ‘transcendent’ in our ethical decision-making.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Barker, Kim , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143805 , vital:38284 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
- Description: Research with persons who have experienced trauma requires careful consideration. In preparing the ethics protocol for an ethnographic study of an anti-rape protest, we thought carefully about how the first author would manage ethical decisions in accordance with the University ethics code. However, this process did not prepare us for the dynamic and reciprocal positioning the first author encountered in the field. Nor was she prepared for her sense of the ethical duty of response when entrusted with the narratives of women who had suffered ‘irredeemable harm’. Drawing on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, and examples from the research, we show how ethical decision-making in ethnographic research is always relational and dialogical; extending beyond our direct interactions with participants to the ways in which we approach our ‘data’. We argue that ethics cannot be reduced to a cognitive-rational process and propose ways to acknowledge and draw on the ‘affective’ and ‘transcendent’ in our ethical decision-making.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The politics of erasure: thinking critically about anonymity and confidentiality
- Marx, Jacqueline, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Marx, Jacqueline , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143827 , vital:38286 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
- Description: Anonymity and confidentiality are prominent features in research ethics codes. In this paper we critically examine the ethical imperative to change or eradicate research participant’s names and the distinctive, individually identifying characteristics of their lives. Drawing on examples from a research ethics application for a project involving women who had extricated themselves from relationships in which they had experienced intimate partner violence, and an ethnographic case study of cross-dressing and drag, consideration is given to the multiple ways in which anonymity and confidentiality can be put to work, both promoting and undermining what it means to do ethical research. We argue that the requirement for anonymity and confidentiality cannot be assessed without taking into account historicity and the socio-political contexts in which a study and its participants are located. The paper concludes with some consideration of the implications of a situated ethics approach for institutional review board protocols.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Marx, Jacqueline , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143827 , vital:38286 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
- Description: Anonymity and confidentiality are prominent features in research ethics codes. In this paper we critically examine the ethical imperative to change or eradicate research participant’s names and the distinctive, individually identifying characteristics of their lives. Drawing on examples from a research ethics application for a project involving women who had extricated themselves from relationships in which they had experienced intimate partner violence, and an ethnographic case study of cross-dressing and drag, consideration is given to the multiple ways in which anonymity and confidentiality can be put to work, both promoting and undermining what it means to do ethical research. We argue that the requirement for anonymity and confidentiality cannot be assessed without taking into account historicity and the socio-political contexts in which a study and its participants are located. The paper concludes with some consideration of the implications of a situated ethics approach for institutional review board protocols.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The intersection of culture and gender in constructions of ukuzila’ (spousal mourning) among AmaXhosa in the Eastern Cape:
- Ngqangweni, Hlonelwa, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Ngqangweni, Hlonelwa , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143615 , vital:38267 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
- Description: Mourning is a universal and culturally specific practice following the death of a significant other. The Xhosa equivalent of the mourning process is ukuzila. Very little has been written on the subject of ukuzila in spite of the detrimental effects of the practice on the widows’ health and safety, as well as the discriminatory nature of the practice. This paper presents the findings of a discourse analytic qualitative study conducted among isiXhosa speaking men and women in South Africa. The study revealed ukuzila as a practice put in place to show respect to the deceased. However, the showing of respect revealed a historically gendered cultural practice, imbued with power relations and centred on ‘visibility’. In light of this finding, the authors propose further research which includes exploring people’s willingness to change to a non-gendered practice of ukuzila, and alternate expressions of ukuzila that suit women rather than ‘culture’ and society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Ngqangweni, Hlonelwa , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143615 , vital:38267 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
- Description: Mourning is a universal and culturally specific practice following the death of a significant other. The Xhosa equivalent of the mourning process is ukuzila. Very little has been written on the subject of ukuzila in spite of the detrimental effects of the practice on the widows’ health and safety, as well as the discriminatory nature of the practice. This paper presents the findings of a discourse analytic qualitative study conducted among isiXhosa speaking men and women in South Africa. The study revealed ukuzila as a practice put in place to show respect to the deceased. However, the showing of respect revealed a historically gendered cultural practice, imbued with power relations and centred on ‘visibility’. In light of this finding, the authors propose further research which includes exploring people’s willingness to change to a non-gendered practice of ukuzila, and alternate expressions of ukuzila that suit women rather than ‘culture’ and society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015