Reconsidering research ethics in ethnographic research: bearing witness to ‘irreparable harm’

Barker, Kim; Macleod, Catriona I

Title: Reconsidering research ethics in ethnographic research: bearing witness to ‘irreparable harm’
Creator: Barker, Kim, Macleod, Catriona I
Date: 2015
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143805
Identifier: vital:38284
Identifier: 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.
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP), Barker, K. and Macleod, C., 2015. Reconsidering research ethics in ethnographic research: Bearing witness to ‘irreparable harm’. International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP). 9th Biennial Conference, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP) volume 2015 number 0 2015
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Rhodes University Proatia Statement (https://www.ru.ac.za//governance/proatia/)

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