Decolonisation, Ethics and Reflexivity

A series of sessions and focus groups with postgraduate research students and their supervisors, to explore a decolonial approach to research and ethics.

The project team held four seminars and two focus group interviews on:

• Seminar 1: What does applying a decolonial lens do to research ethics mean?
• Seminar 2: Working with research participants: power, positionality, researcher reflexivity.
• Seminar 3: Researching an‘other’ (guest Dr Janet Ramdeo, University of Surrey).
• Seminar 4: Decolonisation Initiatives: institutional and student perspectives (guest Dr Zey Suka-Bill, University of the Arts)

From these seminars and interviews, key themes emerged:

• There are varied interpretations of how decolonisation is understood and defined.
• Positionality is key, the researcher’s relationship to those being researched is critical and should be an integral part of the research focus, design, and analysis.
• It is important to consider issues of power, trust, and objectivity.
• Researchers cannot assume that they are best suited to conduct research in contexts/communities that are unfamiliar to them. It is critical to consider the question 'Why are you researching us?'
• Decolonial researchers should consider the ongoingness of their research and work proactively to maintain a relationship after the research has concluded.

Others at the Institute of Education investigated decolonising approaches with doctoral students, whereas this project looked at students. There is potential to pool both research topics together for further collaboration. 

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