In a connected, globalised world, the stories researchers tell and the questions they seek to answer delve beyond their own values, cultures, and communities. Each of the lectures so far has brought this idea into the forefront of my mind: where are our research boundaries – where does an ‘interest’, even if seemingly innocent, begin to become appropriation? It is, of course, only natural to want to explore the unknown and make sense of something new. Yet, does the act of doing ‘research’ on an unknown inherently devalue it?

I would argue that, as Dr Ethan Plaut explained, people, cultures, and phenomenon do have a ‘right to be forgotten’. Yet, in today’s globalised world, there is no real line that can be drawn across where research cannot go. Research itself is the bridge that divides the gap between ignorance and understanding – yet, as Professor Tracey McIntosh suggested, research can create a great power divide. We saw this demonstrated in Dr Nicole Perry’s talk; the German fascination with Native American culture places Germany as the powerful ‘ally’ of Native Americans, while in reality serving to only fetishize and romanticize a culture that today largely exists in oppression and poverty. This power dynamic alienates the ‘researched’ from the researcher, or the interested party (in the case of Germany).

So where does this leave research? I reason that we must first know ourselves – our biases, our privileges, our motives – before we begin to take advantage of a world left open to our curiosities.