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Paper short abstract:

Moving beyond transparent reflexivity, this paper engages with absences, fallibilities and moments that require translation. How do researchers align theoretical priorities with the community concerns we want to advance, and address challenges of co/producing knowledge that speaks beyond academia?

Paper long abstract:

'We want our land back!' This autoethnographic account explores efforts to bridge the dualism between academic research and community activism through transnational collaboration. Moving beyond 'transparent-reflexivity' (Maxey, 1999), the paper will engage with absences, fallibilities and moments that require translation. As researchers, how do we align our theoretical priorities with the concerns of communities whose struggles we want to advance? How do we deal with the challenge of co/producing knowledge that ‘speaks’ the political languages of communities beyond the academy (Nagar & Ali, 2003)? It is about working with individuals and groups who see academic research output as a ‘fairly obvious’ message. E.g., it is obvious that their land rights are violated, and they experience high levels of food insecurity. All they want is their land back! I explore how building transnational collaboration can be useful for challenging the divide between politics on the ground, and research as an academic practice. This transnational activity becomes a process of learning to learn from ‘the South’ (Nagar & Ali, 2003). It is about co-determining the specific way in which ‘researchers’ can be accountable/responsible to marginalised people’s struggles for self -representation and self-determination (Visweswaran, 1994). It is a gradual and progressive journey for understanding multiple ways in which communities/individuals from the ‘South’ conceptualise and represent their struggles and challenge the problematic assumptions made by dominant forms of land ownership, including the messy dynamics of voice, authority and representation.