10 Decolonising research and evaluation methods
Another aspect that is only slowly starting to surface in the research world of the global North is that of the consequences and risks involved for ‘local’ researchers: the indigenous experts, development actors and academics who are often hired as ‘fixers’ for evaluation consultants, academics from northern universities, development actors from international NGOs and development agencies.
In the next activity, you will explore this further.
Activity 5
Read the article below from Al Jazeera, which introduces some of these issues, and answer the following questions. It explains how, in the process of data collection, whether quantitative or qualitative, modern-day researchers and evaluators continue to mimic colonial practices: Mwanbari (2019) ‘Africa’s next decolonisation battle should be about knowledge [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ’. Then answer the following questions:
- What are the power inequalities between the local researcher and foreign researcher and what are the consequences?
- How do you think these issues might influence the knowledge that is produced?
- How can local researchers be given a greater voice?
Note your answers in the box below.
Discussion
The Mwambari article emphasises power inequalities between foreign researcher or organisation, and local researcher who are local to the area being studied, and the ways in which this impacts on the knowledge that is then produced. The knowledge production chain can lead to the knowledge produced being ‘white-washed’ to meet the needs of the organisation or foreign researcher. It is therefore unlikely to be a comprehensive picture if it is filtered in this way. The local researcher has a lack of agency and their voice is unlikely to come through. This isn’t because the senior researcher directs the research in a certain way but rather because of the over-arching structures which govern the research processes.
It has led to calls for ‘nothing about us, without us’, and for indigenous research.
Indigenous research is more than tokenism, where a local researcher is used to fix meetings and/or add authenticity to an evaluation or research project. It is highly relational, collaborative and grounded in the local context. It can also be highly creative, drawing on oral traditions such as stories, songs and poems, rather than written records, and visual evidence such as tattoos, dances and cultural artefacts.