Séminaire Pratiques langagières

Sophie Nakueira (Max Planck Institute for Anthropology, Leipzig)

‘Insider’ - ‘Outsider’: Positionality in Uganda’s and South Africa’s migrant spaces

Ethnographic research within migrant communities living in precarious conditions is mainly conducted by researchers from the Global North, or affiliated to research institutions located in the Global North. This raises specific methodological opportunities and challenges as well as ethical dilemmas depending on the researcher’s position in the field. Giving a global south perspective, this talk will focus on how Sophie Nakueira, a researcher affiliated with a global North institution is perceived by migrants in Uganda and South Africa. The talk will address how her positionality facilitates or constrains access to different spaces in the two countries where she conducts fieldwork. What role does gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion or class play in gaining access to migrant communities? How does one avoid or win over gatekeepers to migrant communities? These are some of the questions that will be addressed. More broadly she will discuss what her position in the field reveals about North-South relations and what the implications are for data collection as well as data validity.

La conférence sera également retransmise via Zoom