Event

As critical researchers, we often experience moments during fieldwork where institutional ethics procedures fail us, oftentimes because they are too formalized and static to respond to our specific research contexts. Many of us want to prevent extractivism, contribute to communities and use our institutional power to benefit those we work with. To truly act in solidarity with the communities we work with involves addressing questions of positionality, epistemology, institutional power, hegemony, reciprocity and (de-)coloniality. Rooted in feminist ethics, one approach to acting as ethically as possible while also reflecting on our positions as researchers is to strive for the creation of communities of care (Bellacasa 2017, Held 2005, Houston 1990).

For this workshop, we invite qualitative researchers to join us for an exchange on ways of creating communities of care and acting in solidarity with those we work with. Using a variety of interactive and creative methods, we will reflect on our approaches to and experiences with creating communities of care, sharing best practices and possible pitfalls. After a group discussion in which we explore what defines communities of care for us, we will move through our research phases in the room and cluster our experiences using cards on the floor. The workshop concludes with a final plenary reflection. After the workshop, a guide to establishing communities of care will be assembled from the reflections shared and the knowledge co-created by the participants.