Dear all,
Interesting and important discussion indeed.
Similar questions surround the way we not only "write about", but in general "engage with" collaborators, assistants, gate-keepers, guides, friends, translators, fixers, etc. during fieldwork. Despite being of central importance in academic knowledge production, such collaborations often (surely not always!) receive but scant attention.
Those interested in these discussions, may want to have a look at "(Silent) Voices". We are a collective of researchers from the field of development and (post-)conflict studies working in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe who strive for an open dialogue on the practice of transnational collaboration in academic field research.
We are fully aware we're not the only ones struggling with these questions, and happy to have others join our conversation! If you're interested, feel free to have a look at the website: https://www.gicnetwork.be/silent-voices-about/ or the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Silent-Voices-from-the-Field-2020805891289548/
All best,
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: The Anthropology-Matters forum mailing list <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Stuart Wright
Sent: dinsdag 5 maart 2019 16:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: the problematic term: informant
Dear all,
Interesting discussion. For what it’s worth, a couple of sentences from my recent thesis methodology: “I have generally avoided the word ‘informant’ simply because of its unsettling connotations of espionage. Instead, I use the term ‘respondent’ to refer to all interviewees whose interviews were ultimately translated and transcribed in a numbered transcript; more broadly, I use the term ‘interlocutors’ to refer to all interview respondents as well as participants of relatively informal and unstructured ‘conversations’ recorded in fieldnotes”. My fieldwork was done in northeast Tibet, hence thinking in terms of ‘informants’ seemed extremely problematic. Not that I was openly discussing ‘respondents’ either, but I am often surprised when researchers working in the same context refer to their ‘informants’ without any apparent hesitation.
‘Partners’ seems like such a horrible alternative – such a buzzword in NGOs and CSR departments etc.
Best wishes,
Stuart
--------------------
Stuart J. Wright
School of East Asian Studies (SEAS)
University of Sheffield, UK
Email: [log in to unmask]
> On 5 Mar 2019, at 05:45, Michele Feder-Nadoff <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Please send me any of your ideas, opinions, links to articles regarding the term “informant” and possible alternate terms.
>
> This term points to all the colonial history and ethical problems (in anthropology) and guides us to act as spies in our research ethnography.
>
> Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.
>
> best,
>
> Michele
>
>
> Michele A. Feder-Nadoff, Ph.D.
>
> "Se hace camino al andar.” Antonio Machado
>
> Artista-Antropóloga
> Poland 48 796 722 920
> Mexico 52 55 5139 3764
>
> www.michelefeder-nadoff.com <http://www.michelefeder-nadoff.com/>
>
> http://www.oarplatform.com/un-finishing-research-towards-an-anthropology-of-making-and-perhaps-un-making/ <http://www.oarplatform.com/un-finishing-research-towards-an-anthropology-of-making-and-perhaps-un-making/>
>
> https://colmich.academia.edu/MFederNadoff <https://colmich.academia.edu/MFederNadoff>
>
> http://neotericart.com/2018/02/21/tunneling-towards-light-interview-michele-feder-nadoff-david-richards/ <http://neotericart.com/2018/02/21/tunneling-towards-light-interview-michele-feder-nadoff-david-richards/>
>
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