Paper short abstract:

I advance critical possibilities for conducting careful engaged research with company actors, with the recognition that the offered possibilities are highly contingent on the reshaping of major research concepts around feminist and relational perspectives.

Paper long abstract:

'Engaged research' has become an important concept in human geography and anthropology research design. The prioritization and inclusion of 'collaboration', 'partnership', and 'participation' is considered a strong indicator of sound critical research - research that seeks to challenge unequal spatialized structures of power, domination, and injustice. In resource extraction research, engaged research agendas are often pursued alongside marginalized groups with the intention of empowering them and positively transforming our world. Although this approach is needed, I argue that it may create grounds for a 'missed opportunity'. Drawing on company research in Ecuador's palm oil industry since 2011, I argue for a critically engaged research agenda that is anchored by working relationships with 'oppositional' actors - actors whose views may run counter to the researcher's own perspectives.

I advance critical possibilities for conducting engaged research with company actors, with the recognition that the offered possibilities are highly contingent on the reshaping of major research concepts around feminist and relational perspectives. Additionally, I acknowledge that the ability to actually carry out such research is highly dependent on the intersectional identity of the researcher being congruous with the racial, gender, and class structures that constitute and maintain the organization being studied. Engagement with companies is possible if: 1) a 'messy' interpretation of the researcher's shifting identity in the field is acknowledged, 2) a composite approach to the corporate firm is pursued and 3) a conceptualization of critical engagement is formulated which recognizes the political and social constraints surrounding research in oppositional spaces.