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R03


Participatory ethnography and/or participation in ethnography? 
Convenors:
Jo Krishnakumar (SOAS, University of London)
Andrea Cornwall (King's College London)
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Format:
Roundtable
Location:
B204
Sessions:
Tuesday 11 April, -
Time zone: Europe/London

Short Abstract:

This round table discusses questions on what entails participation in ethnography; whether/if all ethnography is participatory; who participates in participatory ethnography; where the participation begins, ends; and how it continues in communities before and beyond research.

Long Abstract:

This roundtable will discuss through provocations what participation has come to mean for anthropologists and those subjected to anthropological inquiry in an increasingly "unwell" world where community-led and mutual care practices are taking precedence over relying on state actors. The world is calling towards more care-ful and community-centred living, working and being; how do anthropologists answer this call by both being caring towards themselves (research methods that prioritise both sides of the conversation between the researcher and those subjected to being researched and conversations with place and time) and caring towards the questions they ask, the information they collect and how this information is processed through mechanisms of participation?

Old questions will be reevaluated; who participates and how? what is the role of the researcher in such ethnographic work? and we will discuss emergent questions; how does participation make space to address changes brought upon by an unwell world? How does participatory ethnography work with other methodologies? Does participation, involvement and intimacy in research cause a "limit" to critical thinking and the dissemination of research? Do concepts like "workshopping" and "play" add to our understanding of participation? And whether participation is being reduced to the language used by neo-liberal society to talk but not walk the process of decolonising and uprooting present power structures.

All this is in the light of critique from queer, feminist, and decolonial methodologies that have questioned the non-participation of researchers with communities across axes of race, gender, sexuality, caste and class and their knowledge systems.

Accepted contributions:

Session 1 Tuesday 11 April, 2023, -