Paper short abstract:

I discuss the tensions between the desirability of reproducing marginalized perspectives and the necessity for ethical protection. How to reach the marginalized 'other' in an inclusive way, and whose story the resulting ethnographic account really tells?

Paper long abstract:

I focus on a study of disabled people and their stories further analysed, interpreted and written to ethnographic account as a part of collaborative and inclusive research process. The process creates multiple layers of interpretations as well as barriers that hinder the possibility to hear and tell the personal accounts. However, interpretive layers are needed in order to protect the privacy of those who participate in research. Anthropological research must adhere to laws and ethical committee regulations, but the risk is that protecting informants and the members of their social environments can become overprotection, and bring further marginalization. When research aims in illuminating the life of 'the other' we cannot afford excluding the already marginalized groups from research. I discuss the tensions inherent in this contradiction: the desirability of reproducing perspectives of the othered in a way that enables us all to relate to their experiences and the necessity for ethical protection. I argue that analytical tools and methods for collaborative writing are available to blur the roles of researchers and their informants throughout the research process. These tools also enable researchers to write ethnographic stories that provide a chance to understand the everyday lives of those deemed deviant in relation to the supposed 'normal'. I will talk about my experiments with these tools which utilize methods of collaborative ethnography and inclusive research.