Skip Navigation

Refugee Survey Quarterly 2007 26(3):72-81; doi:10.1093/rsq/hdi0244
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lammers, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© UNHCR 2007, all rights reserved

Researching refugees: preoccupations with power and questions of giving

Ellen Lammers *

Amsterdam, Holland


  Abstract

The phenomenon of forced migration challenges its researchers to tackle complex questions about the ethics of conducting research in the face of human suffering. The issue of giving assistance to the people included in one's research is an inescapable dilemma for anthropologists working in a world of inequality and injustice. This article argues in favour of opening up honest and self-critical reflection on this dilemma and on the presupposed power relations between ‘researcher’ and ‘researched’.

Key Words: young refugees • Uganda • methodology • research ethics • assistance

* Ellen Lammers is a researcher and writer based in Amsterdam. Her PhD thesis is titled War, Refuge and Self: Soldiers, Students and Artists in Kampala, Uganda (University of Amsterdam, 2006, distinction). The research was funded by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO). For their comments to an earlier draft of this article thanks are due to Philomena Essed, Lisa Finch, Diny Lammers, Danielle Olsen, Hanneke Ronnes and Joke Schrijvers.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.