Keywords
researcher-researched relationship
protracted state
power-knowledge
vulnerable population
Nakivale
How to Cite
Number of views: 606
Number of downloads: 204
Abstract
Research ethics address concerns related to power imbalances. These dynamics are particularly prominent in refugee camps, where the contemporary ‘protracted’ state (UNHCR, 2004) turns them into quasi-laboratories, where refugees are subjected to scrutiny, measurement, observation, and analysis by researchers, NGOs, and governmental organizations. Researchers typically conduct brief field trips to perform predetermined scientific activities, limiting their comprehensive understanding of the subject under study. Fieldwork conducted in Nakivale Refugee Settlement (Uganda) since 2019 has highlighted an often-one-way communication dynamic between researchers and refugees, where refugees rarely receive feedback on the information they provide. Consequently, refugees develop a lack of trust towards researchers, impacting their subjectivity and self-esteem. They perceive themselves as information providers rather than owners, lacking simultaneous access to that information. The concept of power-knowledge (Foucault 1980) is instrumental in understanding this issue and reflecting on researchers’ responsibilities in studying vulnerable populations.
References
Amauchi J. F. F., Gauthier M. Ghezeljeh, et al. 2022. “The Power of Community-based Participatory Research: Ethical and Effective Ways of Researching,” Community Development 53(1):3-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2021.1936102
Archer M. S. 2007. Making our Way through the World. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618932
Bakewell O. 2021. “Humanizing Refugee Research in a Turbulent World,” Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees 37(2):63-69. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40795
Bernard H. 2011. Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 5th Ed. Lanham: AltaMira Press.
Betts A. 2015. “The Normative Terrain of the Global Refugee Regime,” Ethics & International Affairs 29(4):363-375. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0892679415000350
Betts A. & Collier P. 2018. Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System. New York: Penguin Books.
Bilotta N. 2021. “A Critical Self-Reflexive Account of a Privileged Researcher in a Complicated Setting: Kakuma Refugee Camp,” Research Ethics 17(4):435-447. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161211037386
Castleden H., Morgan V. S., & Lamb C. 2012. “’I Spent the First Year Drinking Tea’: Exploring Canadian University Researchers’ Perspectives on Community-based Participatory Research Involving Indigenous Peoples,” The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe Canadien 56(2):160-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.2012.00432.x
Charman K. 2000. Grounded Theory: Objectivist and Constructivist Methods. 2nd Ed. Sage Publications.
Clark-Kazak C. 2021. “Ethics in Forced Migration Research: Taking Stock and Potential Ways Forward,” Journal on Migration and Human Security 9(3):125-138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23315024211034401
Cornwall A. & Jewkes R. 1995. “What is Participatory Research?,” Social Science & Medicine 41(12):1667-1676. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(95)00127-S
Coughlin S. S., Smith S. A., & Fernandez M. E. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Community-Based Participatory Research. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190652234.001.0001
Deps P. D., Rezende I., Andrade M. A. C., & Collin S. M. 2022. “Ethical Issues in Research with Refugees,” Ethics, Medicine and Public Health 24, #100813. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemep.2022.100813
Ellis B. H., Kia-Keating M., Yusuf S. A., Lincoln A., & Nur A. 2007. “Ethical Research in Refugee Communities and the Use of Community Participatory Methods,” Transcultural Psychiatry 44(3):459-481. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461507081642
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh E. (Ed.). 2020. Refuge in a Moving World. Tracing Refugee and Migrant Journeys across Disciplines. London: UCL Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13xprtw
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh E., Loescher G., Long K., Sigona N., & Kibreab G. 2014. “Forced Migration in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa,” in The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199652433.013.0046
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh E., Loescher G., Long K., Sigona N., & Milner J. 2014. “Protracted Refugee Situations,” in The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199652433.013.0038
Foucault M. 1977. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House.
Foucault M. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault M. 1990. History of Sexuality. Vol. 1, An Introduction. New York: Vintage.
Guillemin M. & Gillam L. 2004. “Ethics, Reflexivity, and ‘Ethically Important Moments’ in Research,” Qualitative Inquiry 10(2):261-280. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800403262360
Hage G. 2009. Waiting out the Crisis: On Stuckedness and Governmentality. Melbourne University Press.
Harding S. 1991. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives. Cornell University.
Hoque M. A., Ahmad T., Manzur S., & Prova T. K. 2023. “Community-Based Research in Fragile Contexts: Reflections from Rohingya Refugee Camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh,” Journal on Migration and Human Security 11(1):89-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23315024231160153
Hugman R., Pittaway E., & Bartolomei L. 2011. “When ‘Do No Harm’ Is Not Enough: The Ethics of Research with Refugees and Other Vulnerable Groups,” British Journal of Social Work 41(7):1271-1287. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr013
Israel B. A., Schulz A. J., Parker E. A., & Becker A. B. 1998. “Review of Community-based Research: Assessing Partnership Approaches to Improve Public Health,” Annual Review of Public Health 19(1):173-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.19.1.173
Jacobsen K. & Landau L. B. 2003. “The Dual Imperative in Refugee Research: Some Methodological and Ethical Considerations in Social Science Research on Forced Migration,” Disasters 27(3):185-206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7717.00228
Janes J. E. 2016. “’The Will to Participate’: Governmentality, Power, and Community-Based Participatory Research,” Intersectionalities. A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice 5(1):110-125. Available online at: https://intersectionalities.mun.ca/index.php/IJ/article/view/1419/1275 (accessed July 31, 2023).
Lawrence J. A., Kaplan I., & McFarlane C. 2013. “The Role of Respect in Research Interactions with Refugee Children and Young People,” in K. Block, E. Riggs, & N. Haslam (Eds.), Values and Vulnerabilities. The Ethics of Research with Refugees and Asylum Seekers (pp. 103-126). Samford Valley, Queensland: Australian Academic Press.
Lusiola A. O., Matanga K. F., & Simiyu R. 2022. “The Nature and Scope of Protracted Refugee Crisis in Kenya with Specific Reference to Garissa County,” Sumerianz Journal of Social Science 5(4):103-118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47752/sjss.54.103.118
Mackenzie C., McDowell C., & Pittaway E. 2007. “Beyond ‘Do No Harm’: The Challenge of Constructing Ethical Relationships in Refugee Research,” Journal of Refugee Studies 20(2):299-319. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fem008
Madison D. 2005. Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance. SAGE Publications, Inc. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452233826
Marmo M. 2013. “The Ethical Implications of the Researcher’s Dominant Position in Cross-cultural Refugee Research,” in K. Block, E. Riggs, & N. Haslam (Eds.), Values and Vulnerabilities: The Ethics of Research with Refugees and Asylum Seekers (pp. 85-102). Samford Valley, Queensland: Australian Academic Press.
Newitt S. & Thomas N. P. 2022. “Participating in Social Exclusion: A reflexive Account of Collaborative Research and Researcher Identities in the Field,” Action Research 20(2):105-121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750320954530
Pincock K. & Bakunzi W. 2021. “Power, Participation, and ‘Peer Researchers’: Addressing Gaps in Refugee Research Ethics Guidance,” Journal of Refugee Studies 34(2):2333-2348. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feaa060
Råheim M., Magnussen L. H., Sekse R. J. T., Lunde Å., Jacobsen T., & Blystad A. 2016. “Researcher-Researched Relationship in Qualitative Research: Shifts in Positions and Researcher Vulnerability,” International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being 11:30996. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v11.30996
Saltsman A. & Jacobsen K. 2021. “Introduction by Editors: Power in Forced Migration Research Methods,” Journal of Refugee Studies 34(3):2511-2521. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feab058
Sibeon R. 2004. Rethinking Social Theory. SAGE Publications Ltd. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446216989
Sousa J. W. 2021. “Community Members as Facilitators: Reclaiming Community-based Research as Inherently of the People,” Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement 14(2):1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/ijcre.v14i2.7767
Stoecker R. 2009. “Are We Talking the Walk of Community-based Research?” Action Research 7(4):385-404. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750309340944
Tiedemann P. 2021. “Are There Moral Duties toward Refugees? Considerations in Legal Ethics,” Laws 10(1), art. 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/laws10010004
Travers R., Pyne J., Bauer G., Munro L., Giambrone B., Hammond R., & Scanlon K. 2013. “‘Community Control’ in CBPR: Challenges Experienced and Questions Raised from the Trans PULSE Project,” Action Research 11(4):403-422. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750313507093
UNHCR 2022. UNHCR’s Global Trends. Forced Displacement Report. Available online at: https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/global-trends-report-2022.pdf (accessed August 1, 2023).
Wardeh M. & Marques R. C. 2021. “Sustainability in Refugee Camps: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” Sustainability 13(14):76-86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147686
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Mateusz M. Krawczyk, Joël Kikalage Dieudonné
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.