Paper short abstract:

This paper proposes re-socialising "studying up," a mode of ethnography that tends to assume social and ethical distance from research interlocutors in powerful institutions. I reflect on a personal experience of institutional scrutiny over a manuscript written about a humanitarian organisation.

Paper long abstract:

The practice of “studying up,” that is, conducting ethnography among powerful groups and institutions rather than among marginalised communities, has become established in anthropology. Remarking that influential institutions have the power to resist anthropological knowledge production, key works in this tradition have argued for a rethinking of questions of ethics and representation in relations with interlocutors when studying up. Based on an analysis of a process of institutional scrutiny over an ethnographic manuscript that I wrote about a humanitarian organisation (during which I was accused of not following research ethics protocols) I argue for a “re-socialising” of studying up. I contend that remaining open to the possibility of forging shared understandings and alliances with interlocutors who represent powerful institutions may help highlight the inconsistencies, dissonances, and contradictions within while also helping facilitate access and counteract institutional resistance to research. A fuller ethical consideration of what may be at stake for both researcher and interlocutor – be it the urgency of critique or mundane concerns over career and life prospects –may help foster potential alliances or mutual understandings in difficult times.