Visibility, voice and emancipation: suggestions for decolonising research ethics in the sociology of youth

Abstract

Decolonising knowledge production has a long history in drawing attention to the politics of biography and geography in authoritative knowledge that is, our assumptions about both who can produce it and where it comes from. We draw on theorists like Syed Farid Alatas (dependency), Dipesh Chakrabarty (provincializing), and Gurminder Bhambra (silencing) to describe and apply the broad critical points often raised in the politics of knowledge production to research ethics. While attention has been paid, in the arena of research ethics, to the universalizing assumptions of research, its extractive nature, and its role in silencing histories especially of those on the periphery of power, there have been few direct challenges to the central tenets of research ethics, such as informed consent, anonymity, and confidentiality. Building on these existing challenges, we examine the kind of conduct likely to meet the demands of decolonisation in its emphasis on the postcolonial condition as a context and referent for research ethics. Deploying two case studies on youth marginality in South Africa in conjunction with broader decolonial approaches to knowledge production in the current literature, we consider the demands of a decolonising research ethics, including knowledge ownership, centring marginalized voices, and dignified representations of those living in under-resourced communities. Accepting the critique that inherited ethical canons risk narrowing the content of ethical deliberation, we argue that emphasizing co-production, co-ownership, visibility, voice, and reciprocity in research ethics can aid in emancipatory and decolonising knowledge production.