Aotearoa Migration Research Network (AMRN) seminar

Juggling Ethical Challenges within Ethnic Research

This presentation discusses a particular case of negotiating a research process with ethics committees and what is perceived to be ‘good’ ethical conduct. I share an experience of obtaining ethical approval for a project working with ethnic communities from a particular religious group. Based on my experiences I raise certain issues regarding the importance of contextual understandings of ethics, and the norms of the communities with whom we do research. The presentation ultimately problematizes the notion of ‘ethical conduct’ and highlights the issue of ‘who are we really accountable to’ as migration researchers in terms of our ethical conduct. This presentation is an opportunity to share and discuss the hard questions and learn from each other’s experiences.