Panel today will discuss changing nature of fieldwork

The University Colloquium on the Global South will host a graduate student panel titled "Dilemmas of Fieldwork: Subjectivities, Politics and Practicalities" today from 2:30 to 5pm, in 305 York Lanes.

Fieldwork research is a common way of gathering first-hand information and is influenced by a scientific approach to knowledge production. But this conventional method has recently been challenged and a new approach to fieldwork entail repositions the researcher as actor in a collaborative process of knowledge production.

In the light of contemporary critiques and an emerging new ethics of fieldwork research, a group of York graduate students will share their personal experiences in the field. Informed by a diversity of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, the panelists will discuss broad-ranging experiences of fieldwork in Africa, Latin America and South Asia.

Presenters are:

  • Shukria Dini on "The urban ‘informal’ economy in the global South: A feminist post-empiricist analysis of state approaches to the governance of street trade with a comparative case study of Nairobi and Durban City"
  • Sarah Macharia on "Complex Ecologies and Cityspaces: Social-ecological Networks in Urban Agriculture, Managua, Nicaragua"
  • Laura Shillington on "Comparative Analysis of Indigenous Women’s Participation in Ethno-politics and Community Development: The Experiences of Women Leaders of ECUARUNARI (Ecuador) and YATAMA (Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua)"
  • Dolores Figueroa Romero on "The Roles of Women’s Organizations in Peace-building and Post-Conflict Transformation in War-torn Somalia"

The University Colloquium on the Global South is an open space for debate and critical inquiry for students, faculty members, non-governmental organizations, social activists and policy makers. Colloquia are free and do not require pre-registration.

For information or to register for updates, visit the University Consortium on the Global South Web site or contact Joelle Reid at joelle@yorku.ca.

This event is co-sponsored by the African Studies Program, the Department of Sociology and the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts.