How Identity Enriches and Complicates the Research Process: Reflections from Political Ecology Fieldwork

Nyantakyi-Frimpong, Hanson

doi:10.1080/00330124.2020.1823863

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(62 reference statements)

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“…Accounts of fieldwork experiences have since continued to examine its masculinist character, issues of trust, rapport, and cultural and geopolitical entanglements (De Silva & Gandhi, 2018; McFarlane‐Morris, 2019; Sultana, 2007). However, the range of masculinities represented in geographical and migration scholarship on fieldwork relations remain narrow and limited (see Ibeka, 2022; Nyantakyi‐Frimpong, 2021; Vanderbeck, 2005).…”

Section: Positionality Debates and The Muslim Sense Of Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muslim geographies, positionality, and ways of knowing migration

Allouache

2023

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This paper takes positionality as a lens to discuss how being Muslim and conducting research with other Muslims brings this facet of one's positionality to the fore in ways that shaped fieldwork relations and the research process. Specifically, this paper is informed by my fieldwork experience as a Muslim male conducting ethnographic research on migration and labour precarity with, and in the company of, other Muslim migrants across Taiwan. Through developing friendships, joining activities, serendipitous encounters during Salat al-Jumu'ah, weekend visits, and overnights stays, I began to spend more time across a diversity of Muslim spaces as fieldwork progressed. 1 In this sense, being Muslim provided privileged access and shaped my understanding of migrant experiences in ways that were beyond pre-planned fieldwork activities. It also offered an insightful standpoint from which I could better understand the research context and my own social positioning in the field. In thinking with the unplanned ways constant emphasis on such a strong commonality between the researcher and the researched generated valuable insights, this paper argues that 'Muslim geographies' can serve as a productive starting point to further problematise accounts of knowledge, subjectivity, and power in geography.

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Section: Positionality Debates and The Muslim Sense Of Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muslim geographies, positionality, and ways of knowing migration

Allouache

2023

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“…As I have demonstrated throughout this thesis, research in conflict-affected conservation contexts requires a considerate, ethical and sensitive methodology in fieldwork. While a wide range of studies related to political ecology have long engaged with geographies scarred by violence and/or conflict via fieldwork as the pivotal methodological approach (Bryant 2015, Büscher 2013Marijnen and Verweijen 2016;Nyantakyi-Frimpong 2021), there has been surprisingly little reflection on and recommendations for fieldwork in such settings in the political ecology literature. This thesis seeks to contribute to filling this void by proposing a practice of 'emotional geographies'.…”

Section: Towards An Emotional Ethnographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographies of fear : Exploring the transboundary nature of conservation and conflict among the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda

Trogisch

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IIIiii challenges of PhD administration. The time in Wageningen would have been cold and empty without the light-filling moments with Britt Broekhaus. In deepest appreciation I want to thank Yvette Buist sharing her beautiful soul with me and Julia van Middelaar who is always there, always shining, always taking care of me when I forgot myself. Further, I am grateful to have met Anne Leroy -her encouragement and her mapping skills can be found on these pages.These years of research and fieldwork would not have been possible without a full doctoral scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. This also enabled me to have a lovely home thanks to the generosity of Marian de Wit and Onno Knol, as well as Matthias Weichelt.It is sad that I cannot express my gratitude to some of the most important people shaping my fieldwork as the need for their anonymization or pseudonymization in the given context surpasses my wish to explicitly thank them. They deserve the main part of these acknowledgements and even -and especially -without their names they shall be seen and read between all lines. Without their trust, support, knowledge, and protection this thesis would be void of content. Alongside the silent names, some can and need to be written down filling the various places of my journey with meaning: Sally sharing her house, her singing and her kindness with me. Derek giving me a home, a family and a sense of belonging. Rebecca Besant and Search for Common Ground helping me to understand 'slowly by slowly'. The people from the Karisoke Research Centre, Dian Fossey Fund International and the Gorilla Doctors, specifically Sarah who made me a friend, and Winnie, her dogs and her warming soups when me and my low moral came down from the mountains. Loes, Celine and Julia creating the most wonderful moments for me by pulling me out of the field and the work of fieldwork. The people from Mgahinga whose patience, hospitality and kind-heartedness I have never encountered elsewhere in the world. Daniel Roher who once upon a time found me bedridden with Malaria in Uganda and ever since made us companions and research assistants. His beautiful mind, photography and drawings figure prominently throughout this thesis. Tom Reid whose curious questions and loving support gave me perspective and perseverance. Pat and his colleagues sharing everything they could with me including their own safety. The women of North Kivu allowing me a glimpse into their dignity and strength. Sabine Schmitt making me feel so at home that life in Goma was joy in spite of violence. Marius Mardare who held me together when I was falling apart nonetheless. Zachary Norman reminding me of light in some very dark hours. Katy Robjant contributing decisively to that light as well as my understanding of the everyday lives in the Eastern DRC. I thank my legs -and Tonnie Dirks who taught me how to use them -that carried me up and down the mountains and through uncountable runs for inspiration and sanity. Thank you.IV iv I am very grateful for the junior re...

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The Weight Women Carry: Research on the Visible and Invisible Baggage in Suitcase Trade between China and Africa

Braun

Haugen

2021

The Professional Geographer

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Grounded in ethnographic observations, this article offers a commentary on the visible and invisible dynamics of mobility between China and West and Central Africa. It follows the transnational trajectories of African trader women and takes stock of some of the weight that these women shoulder during trips where goods and money are set in motion. The materiality of the transported consumer items shapes traders' experiences of mobility and immobility. Trader women also must carry immaterial baggage relating to what their mobile, racialized female bodies represent to various people they encounter. Specifically, the Chinese state and general public view their bodies as threats to social order and, in the context of Ebola and COVID-19, as threats to public health. Our analysis also attends to the weight that female scholars metaphorically carry while conducting research. We devote space to addressing our presence as White researchers, thus attending to methodological opaqueness alongside issues of hidden geographies in transnational trade and migration.

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How Identity Enriches and Complicates the Research Process: Reflections from Political Ecology Fieldwork

Cited by 8 publications

References 51 publications

Muslim geographies, positionality, and ways of knowing migration

Muslim geographies, positionality, and ways of knowing migration

Geographies of fear : Exploring the transboundary nature of conservation and conflict among the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda

The Weight Women Carry: Research on the Visible and Invisible Baggage in Suitcase Trade between China and Africa

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