Paper short abstract:

Methodological, ethical and theoretical dilemmas when studying sexual health in Tanzania are discussed. Fieldwork implying a 'dialogic epistemology' uncovered contradicting concerns and inequality in times of AIDS. Health-work experience eased research, as with abortion, yet it triggers scepticism.

Paper long abstract:

The paper is based on the methodological, ethical and theoretical dilemmas experienced during a doctoral research project on the theme of adolescent girls and sexual health in Tanzania. During one year of anthropological fieldwork, several methods were combined, such as participant observation, focus-group and in-depth interviews, role-plays etc, as well as a survey. Training courses and seminars were attended, as well as a youth-friendly clinic was initiated. Participatory, collaborative research implying a "dialogic epistemology" was pursued to engage young people and health workers in the issue of sexual health promotion and HIV prevention.

The combination of various, unconventional methods provided a rich source of data. The approach allowed for entering the various formal and informal arenas where young people and health professionals operate in respectively seeking- and providing for health services. It allowed for capturing the tension, at various levels, between structure and agency, and, giving voice to different people helped uncovering the embodiment of inequality and poverty in times of AIDS.

Yet, this integration of various methods was also based on previous experience as a health worker in the locality. Anthropological fieldwork was thus facilitated by accumulated "native" knowledge in the health sector, and by an ambiguous status as a researcher and a former colleague. On the other hand, various informants had different and often contradicting concerns, and including health professionals in the research process implied several ethical dilemmas, such as when studying the practice of abortion in an illegal context. At the same time, such close, long-term involvement in a deadly epidemic created some feeling of personal and political impotence. Finally, the fact of defining oneself as an anthropologist engaged in health promotion seems to bring about a scholarly scepticism suggesting the anthropological "impurity" of the data produced.