Contribution short abstract:

This paper discusses the limitations and risks of researching (anti-)racism as an affected person and how anthropology as a discipline can respond to this and create a safer environment for this group of anthropologists.

Contribution long abstract:

Fieldwork is often strenuous, but after my nine months of fieldwork in Cape Town, where I researched the construction and the effects of racialized, especially Whitened spaces, I was more than exhausted. The main reason for this could be that one of the methods I applied was action research. I used my Black body as a research object to try to understand and disrupt the complex dynamics of Whitened and exclusionary spaces. For example, by going into shops or cafés known for treating Black customers unfriendly, or by walking through a predominantly White neighborhood.

Although this method helped me to grasp these spaces, especially with regard to embodied knowledge, it also made me vulnerable. It exposed me to countless situations of racism, causing me to experience subtle and explicit forms of racial violence.

This paper questions the costs, limitations, and risks of (anti-)racism research as an affected person. It also offers suggestions and possible approaches for how the discipline can prepare, support, and guide PoC scholars (especially junior scholars) who are conducting anti-racist research, and how it can create safe(r) environments for them during fieldwork and beyond.