Anthropology is fascinating. I love the way it makes the familiar strange and the strange familiar. However, whilst studying it I have often thought about the ethical nature of producing research on a culture that is not your own. As the written word holds great power in western cultures, when writing an ethnography on a particular group of people, the anthropologist has the power to control the narrative and determine how that society will be presented to the world.
Given the destructive effects this power has had in the past (see Margaret Mead’s research in Samoa), I have found myself questioning whether researchers really have the right to study a culture that is not their own? To tell a story that is not their own? And if they can, how can they conduct research in a world that is scarred by racial and gender power imbalances?
In the panel on Power and Inequity in Research, Carisa Showden discussed this imbalance of power, addressing the inherent challenge in the western academic model of research. Western research revolves around the ‘studier and the studied’ dichotomy, a model that can work to reinforce unequal power dynamics in the world. Whilst it is difficult to navigate this imbalance of power, Showden emphasised the importance of co-constructing and co-producing research, especially with groups who have not always had their voices heard or been in control of the way their society is presented to the world. Working collaboratively with the research participants can ensure that they maintain, or reclaim, power over their cultural stories and depictions.
Showden’s message of ‘nothing about us without us’ provides an answer to the questions I have had surrounding research in anthropology. The researcher should invite their research participants to the table, actively consulting and working with them to learn what is okay to discuss and how it is okay to discuss it. Perhaps research of another culture done in this way can acknowledge and attempt to rectify power imbalances. Research should be an inclusive, co-creative space that brings together the voices of many – not an exclusive field that reinforces unequal power dynamics.
