Paper short abstract:

Reflections on an ongoing project to write a collaborative biography of Anachisale, an “ordinary” Malawian woman and longtime “key informant”. Taking inspiration from feminist scholarship, we are working across difference to analyse the co-creation of ethnographic knowledge and the ethics thereof.

Paper long abstract:

The paper reflects on an on-going project to write a collaborative biography of Anachisale, an “ordinary” rural Malawian woman and longtime anthropological “key informant”. Anachisale’s life story will enrich anthropological knowledge of matrilineal societies and gender relations in Africa, while the feminist-collaborative process of telling her story, including that of our mutual entanglement, is prompting the active reworking of anthropological methods of research, writing and dissemination. Central to this project are methods of reciprocal travel and mutual observation. Nevertheless, clear inequalities, including those of wealth, race, mobility, and education, cannot be easily overcome and must be continually addressed. As we advance the practice of feminist collaboration, we are grappling with longstanding challenges of representation and analysing both the co-creation of ethnographic knowledge and the ethics thereof.